The life of John Milton : containing, besides the history of his works, several extraordinary characters of men and books, sects, parties and opinions.

THE /A

L I F E

OF fdj

John Milton,

Containing, befides the

Hiftory of his WORKS,

Several Extraordinary Chara&ers

of Men and Books, Setts, Parties,
and Opinions. '

Victrix Caufa Diis placuit , fed viola, Catom,

LONDON ,

Printed by John Darby in Bartholomew Clofi,
M. DGXCJX.

( 5 )

THE

LIFE,

O F

John Milton.

To Thomas Raulins of
Kilreag in Herefordshire Elq;

I SEND You at length, my bed
Friend, what you have fo often
and earneftly follicited me to
write, the Life of JOHN.
MILTON, a Man eminent at home
and famous abroad for his univerfal
Learning, Sagacity, and folid Judg¬
ment : but particularly noted as well
for thofe excellent Volumes he wrote on

A 3 th

1 °* N %

Dept.-of

Special

Collections

6 The Life of John Milton i
the behalf of Civil, Religious, and
Domeftic Liberty ; as for his divine and
incomparable Poems, which, equalling
the mod; beautiful Order and Expreffion
of any antient or modern Compositions,
areinfinitly above them all for Sublimi¬
ty and Invention. Obferving in this
performance the Rules of a faithful Hi¬
storian, being neither provok'd by Ma¬
lice, nor brib’d by Favor, and as well
daring to fay all that is true, as lcorning
to write any Falfhood, l Shall not con¬
ceal what may be thought againft my
Author’s Honor, nor add the lead: word
for his Reputation: but three things
I would have you fpecially obferve.
Firft, I fhall not be too minute in relat¬
ing the ordinary Circumftances of his
Life, and which are common to him
with all other Men. Writings of this
nature Should in my opinion be defign’d
to recommend Virtue, and to expofe
Vice ,• or to illuftrat Hiftory, and to
preferve the memory of extraordinary
things. That a Man, for example, was
tfick atfuch a time, or well at another,

Should

&0h}

The Life of John Milton. 7
fhould never be mention’d; except in
the Caufes or Effects, Cure or Continu¬
ance, there happens fomthing remark¬
able, and for the benefit of Mankind to
know. I had not therfore related Mil-
ton’s Headachs in his Youth, were it
not for the influence which this Indifpo-
fition had afterwards on his Eys - and
that his Blindnefs was rafhly imputed
by his Enemies to the avenging Judg*
ment of God. Secondly, In the Cha¬
racters of SeCts, and Parties, Books or
Opinions, I Ihali produce his own
words, as I find ’em in his Works • that
thofe who approve his Reafons, may
ow all the Obligation to himfelf, and
that I may elcape the blame of fuch as
may diflike what he fays. For it is
commonly feen, that Hiftorians are fuf-
peCted rather to make their Hero what
they would have him to be, than fiich
as he really was; and that, as they are
promted by different Paflions, they put
thole words in his mouth which they
might not fpeak themfel ves without in¬
curring fom danger, and being accus'd

A 4 per:

8 The Life of John Milton,
perhaps of Flattery or Injuffice : but I
am neither writing a Satyr, nor a Pane¬
gyric upon Milton, but publifhing
the true Hiftory of his A&ions, Works,
and Opinions. In the third place, I
would not have it expected that when I
quote a few Verfes or PafTages in a dif¬
ferent Language, I (hould always pre¬
tend to tranflate ’em, when the whole
turn or fancy abfolutely depends upon
the force of the Original words ,• for the
Ignorant could be nothing the wiler, and
the bell Tranflation would fpoil their
Beauty to the Learned. But this hap¬
pens fo rarely, and almoft only during
his Travels abroad, that it Pearce deferv’d
an Advertifment. The amplefl part of
my Materials l had from his own Books,
where, conftrain'd by the Diffhmations
of his Enemys, he often gives an ac¬
count of himfelf. I learnt Pom Parti¬
culars from a Perlon that had bin once
his Amanuenfis, which w’ere confirm’d
to me by his Daughter now dwelling in
London , and by a Letter written to one
at my defire from his laft Wife, who is

ftill

The Life of John Milton. p
ftill alive. I perus’d the Papers of one of
his Nephews, learnt what I could in
Difcourfe with the other j and laftly
confulted fuch of his Acquaintance, as,
after the befl: inquiry, I was able todif-
cover. Thus completely furnifh’d, I
undertook, mod ingenious Sir, the fol¬
lowing Work, as well to oblige you, as
to inform Pofterity j and perform d what
I knew would be acceptable to my Friend
with as much pleafure as ever you per¬
us’d our Author s excellent Sheets.

J Ohn Milton, the Son likewife of
John Milton, and Sarah C As¬
ton, a Woman exemplary for her Liberality
to the Poor, was born in London , in the Year of
Chrift 1606. a Gentleman by his Education
and Family, being defcended from the M1 l-
tons of Milton in Oxfordjbire; tho if you
confider him in his admirable Works or Genius,
he was truly and eminently noble. But he had
too much good Senfe to value himfelf upon any
other Qualities except thofe of his Mind, and
which only he could properly call his own:
for all external and adventitious Titles, as they
may at the pleafure of a Tyrant, or by an un-
fortunat Attemt againft his Government, be
quite abolifh’d ; fo we often find in Hereditary

\

yr

to The Life of John Milton.

Honors, that thofe Diftindftions which the
Brave and the Wife had juftly obtain’d from
their Country, defcend indifferently to Cow¬
ards, Traytors, or Fools, and fpoil the In-
duftry of better Souls from indeavoring to e-
qual cr excede the Merits of their A nee (for s.
His Father was a polite Man, a great Mafter
of Mufic, and by Profeflion a Scrivener, in
which Calling, thro his Diligence and Honefty,
he got a competent Eftate in a fmall time : for
he was dillnherited by his bigotted Parents for
imbracing the Proteftant Religion, and abjur¬
ing the Popifh Idolatry. He had two other
Children, Anna marry’d to Edward
Philips; and Christopher bred to
the Common .Law, who, more refemblmg his
Grandfather than his Father or Brother, was of
a very fuperftitious nature, and a man of no
Parts or Ability. After the late Civil Wars,
tho he was intirely addi&ed to the Royal Caufe*
no notice was taken of him, till the late King’
James, wanting a fet of Judges that would
declare his Will to be fuperior to our Le^al
Conftitution, created him the fame day a Ser¬
jeant and one of the Barons of the Exchequer,
knighting him of courfe, and making him next
one of the Judges of the Common Pleas: But
he quickly had his quietus eft, as his Mafter not
long after was depos’d for his Maladminiftrati-
on by the People of England, reprefented in a
Convention at Weftminfter. To return now
to the Perfon who makes the Subjeft of this

Dif-

The Life of John Milton. 11

Difcourfe, John Milton was deftin’d to
be a Scholar, and partly under domeftic Tea¬
chers (wherof one was Thomas Young,
to whom the firft of his familiar Letters is in-
fcrib’d) and partly under Dr. Gil/, the chief
Matter of PauPs School (to whom likewife
the fifth of the fame Letters is written) he made
an incredible Progrefs in the knowlege of
Words and Things, his Diligence and Incli¬
nation outftripping the care of his Inftru&ors.
After the twelfth Year of his Age, fuch was
his infatiable . thirffc for Learning, he feldom
went to bed before midnight. This was the
firft undoing of his Eys, to whofe natural de¬
bility were added frequent Headachs, which
could not retard or extinguifli his laudable Paf-
fion for Letters. Being thus initiated in feveral
Tongues, and having not flightly tailed the
inexpreffible Sweets of Philofophy, he was fent
at 15 to ChrijPs College in Cambridg to purfue
more arduous and folid Studies. This fame
Year he gave feveral Proofs of his early Genius
for Poetry, wherin he afterwards fucceded fo
happily, that to all Ages he’l continue no lefs
the Ornament and Glory of England, than H 0-
mer is own’d to be that of Greece, and V 1 r-
gil of Italy. He firft tranflated fom Pfalms
into Englifh Verfe, wherof the 114 th begins in
this manner.

When

i i The Life of John Milton.

When the bleft Seed of T e r a h ’ s faithful
Son,

After long toil their Liberty had won,

And part from Pbarian Fields to Canaan Land,
Led by the ftrength of the Almighty’s Hand;
Jehovah’s Wonders were in Ifrael Ihown,
His Praife and Glory was in Ifrael known.

Ip his feventeentli Year he wrote a handfom
Copy of Verfes on the Death of a Sifter’s
Child that dy’d of a Cough ; and the fame
Year a Latin Elegy on the Death of the Bifhop
of Winchejter , with another on that of Ely.
’Twas then alfo that he compos’d his fine Poem
on the Gunpouder Treafon; concerning all
which and the reft of his Juvenil pieces, the
judicious Mo rho f, in his PoljhiJlor Litera-
rms y fays, that Milt on’s Writings fhew
him to have bin a Man in his very Childhood ;
and that thefe Poems are excedingly above the
ordinary Capacity of that Age. He continu’d
in Cambridg feven years, where he liv’d with
great Reputation, and generally belov’d, till
taking the degree of Mafter of Arts, and per¬
forming his Exercifes with much applaufe, he
left the Univerfity : for he aim’d at none of
thofe Profeflions that require a longer ftay in
that place. Som of his Academic Perform¬
ances are ftill extant among his occafional Po¬
ems, and at the end of his familiar Letters.
The five fucceding years he liv’d with his Fa¬
ther

The Life of John Milton. 1 ^

ther in his Country Retirement at Horton near
Colebrook in Barkjbire, where at full leifure he
perus’d all the Greec and Latin Writers ; but
was not fo much in love with his Solitude, as
not to make an excurfion now and then to Lon-
don 7 fomtimes to buy Books, or to meet Friends
from Cambridg ; and at other times to learn fom
new thing in the Mathematics or in Mufic,with
which he was extraordinarily delighted. It
was about this time he wrote from London a
Latin Elegy to his intimat Friend Charles
D i o d a t i, wherin fom Verfes refle&ing on
the Univerfity, and preferring the Pleafures of
the Town, gave a handle afterwards to certain
Perfons no lefs ignorant than malitious, to re¬
port that either he was expel’d for fom Mifde-
meanor from Cambridg , or left it in difcontent
that he obtain’d no Preferment : and that at
London he fpent his time with leud Women, or
at Playhoufes. But the falfity of this ftory
we fhall in due place demonftrat, and in the
mean time infert thofe lines for the fatisfaSion
of the curious.

Me tenet urbs reflua quam Thamefis alluit unda,
Meque nee invitum patria dulcis habet.
am nee arundiferum mibi cur a re'uifere Camum ,
Nee dudum •vetiti me laris angit amor.

Nuda nee arva placent , umbrafque negantia molles ,
Quern male Phaebicolis convenit ille locus /

Nee duri libet ufque minus perferre Magijlri,

Cuteraque ingenio non fubeunda meo.

6V

14 The Life of John Milton.

Si fit hoc exilium patrios adijfe penates,

Et 'vacuum cur is otia grata fequi ,

Non ego velprofugi nomen., fortemve recufo,

Lotus & exilii conditione fruor.

0 utinam vates nunquam graviora tulijfet
Me Tomitanoflebilis exul agro ;

Non tunc Ionio quicquam cejjijfet Homero,

Neque foret victo lam tibi prim a, Maro.
Tempora nam licet hie placidis dare libera Mufis ,
Et tot urn rapiunt me me a vitalibri.

Excipit hinc fejfum finuofi pompa Theatri ,
Etvocat ad plaufm garrula feena fuos.

Et paulo port:

Sed neque fub teclo femper, nec in urbe , latemus ,
Irrita nec nobis tempora veris eunt.

Nos quoque lucm habet <vicino confitus ulmo y
Atque fuburbani nobilis umbra loci.

Sopim hie blandas fpirantia Sydera flammas
Virgineos videos proteriijfe Choros.

He wrote another Latin Elegy to Charles
Piodati; and in his twentieth year he
made one on the approach of the Spring: but
the following year he deferibes his falling in
love with a Lady (whom he accidentally met,
and never afterwards faw) in fuch tender Ex-
preffions, with thofe lively Paffions, and Ima¬
ges fo natural, that you would think Love
himfelf had directed his Pen, or infpir’d your
own Bread: when you perufe them. We Ihall

fee

7 he Life of John Milton. 15

fee him now appear in a more ferious Scene, tho
yet a Child incomparifon of the Figure fie af¬
terwards made in the World. The Death of
his Mother happening likewife about this time
facilitated his defign, which was with his Fa¬
ther’s leave to travel into foren Regions, being
perfuaded that he could not better difcern the
Preeminence or Defers of his own Country,
than by obferving the Cuftoms and Inftituti-
ons of others; and that the ftudy of never fo
many Books, without the advantages of Con-
verfation, ferves only to render a Man either a
ftupid Fool, or an infufferable Pedant. Firft
therfore he procedes to France with one Ser¬
vant, and no Tutor: for fuch as ftill need a
Pedagog are not fit to go abroad ; and thofe
who are able to make a right life of their Tra¬
vels, ought to be the free Mafters of their own
Actions, their good Qualifications being fuf-
ficient to introduce ’em into all places, and to
prefent ’em to the moft deferving Perfons. He
had an elegant Letter of Direction and Advice
from the famous Sir Henry Wotton,
who was a long time Ambaflador from King
James the Firft to the Republic of Venice .
Being arriv’d at Paris, he was moft kindly re¬
ceiv’d by the Engliflj Ambaflador, who recom¬
mended him to the famous Grot 1 us, then
Ambaflador alfo from Queen Christina
of Sweden at the French Court: for we may
eafily imagin that Milton was not a little
defirous to be known to the firft Perfon then in

the

1 6 The Life of John Milton.'

the World for reading and latitude of Judgment,
to fpeak nothing of his other meritorious Cha-
ra&ers. From hence he parted for Italy, where,
after palling thro feveral noted Places, he came
at length to Florence ; a City for the Politenefs of
the Language, and the Civility of the Inha¬
bitants, he always infinitly admir’d. In this
place he ftaid about two months, and was dai¬
ly aflifting at thofe learned Conferences which
they hold in their privat Academys, according
to the laudable Cuftom of Italy, both for the
improvement of Letters, and the begetting or
maintaining of Friendfhip. During this time
he contracted an intimat Acquaintance with
feveral ingenious Men, moft of which have
fince made a noife in the World, and deferve
a mention in this place : I mean Gaddi, D a-
ti, Frescobaldi, Francini, Bon-

MATTEI, COLTELLIN 0,C HIMENT EL-

l i, and feveral others. With thefe he kept a
conftant Correfpondence, particularly with
Carolo Dati, a Nobleman of Florence ,
to whom he wrote the tenth of his Familiar
Epiftles, and who gave him the following Te-
ftimonial of his Efteem.

Joannt

w,

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Wt

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fences ^

jcdit

ADDI, D.|.
:iM, Blft
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efehekepti
ularly vi

lisFmh

The Life of John Milton. 17

Joanni Miltoni Londinenf ,

Juveni patria & virtutibus eximio.

V IRO qui mult a peregrinatione , Jludio cunc-
ta orbis t err arum- perfpexit , a/- /wpaj V-
Ijjfes omnia ubique ab omnibus apprehenderet. Po-
lyglotto, in cujus ore lingua jam deperdita Jic re-
vivifcunt, ut idiomata omnia fmt in ejus laudibus
infacunda ; & jure ea percallet, ut admirationes
& plaufus populorum ab propria fapientia excita-
tos, intelligat. Illi ? cujus animi dotes corporif-

que fenfus ad admir at ionem commovent, & per
ipfam motum cuique auferunt: cujus opera ad
plaufus hortantur, fed venuftate vocem auditori-
bus adimunt. Cui in memoria tot us orbis: in in¬
tellect u fapientia ; in voluntate ardor gloria: in
ore eloquentia. Harmonicos ccelejlium Spbara-
rum fonitus, Afronomia duce, audienti ; charatte-
res mirabilium naturx, per quos Dei magnitudo
deferibitur y magiftra Philofophia legenti ; antiqui -
tatum latebras, vetujlatis excidia, eruditionis
Ambages, comite affidua autorum leclione, exqui -
renti, r eftaur anti, per currently At cur nit or

in arduum ? Illi in cujus 'virtutibus evulgandis
ora fama non fuffeiant, nec hominum Jlupor in
laudandis Jatis ejl, reverent ia ef amor is ergo hoc
ejus mentis debitum admirationis tributum ojfert

Carolus Datus Patricius Florentinus,

Tanto homini Servus, tanta virtutis Am at or

B i

18 The Life of John Milton^

IDON’T think the Italian Flourifhes were
ever carry’d further than in this Elogy, which
notwithftanding is fincere, and pen’d by an ho¬
ne ft Man. Francini is not lefs liberal of
his Praifes in the long Italian Ode he compos’d in
his Honor, which, becaufe it dos Jufticeto the
Englijh Nation, and foretold the future Great-
nefs of Milton, I have annex’d to this Dif-
courfe. That he correfponded afterwards witli
Bonmattei, appears from the eighth of
his familiar Letters, which he wrote to him on
his defign of publifhing an Italian Grammar,
and is not more elegant than pertinent. But
he attain’d that perfection himfelf in the Italian
Language, as to make fom Songs on a real or
feign’d JVliftrefs, in one of which he gives a
handfom account of his writing in this Tongue.

Qual in colie afpro, alimbrunir di fera ,

LI avezza giovinett a pajlorella
Va bagnando IAherbetta firana e bell a,
Chemal ft fpande a difufata [pera

Fruor di fua natia alma prima vera :

Cof amor meco infu la lingua fnella
Dejla ilfior nuovo di flraniafavella ;
Mentre io di te, vezzozamente altera ?

Canto dal mio buonpopol non intefo ,

£’/ bel Tamigi cangio col bel arno :

Amor lo volfe , ed io a /’ altrui pefo ;

Seppi chi amor coja mai 'volfe indarno.

Deh! fofs'il mio cuor lento , e’l duro feno
A chi plant a dal del fibuon terreno.

From

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The Life of John Milton. ip

From his belov’d Florence he took his Journy
next to Rome, where he flay’d two other
Months to fee the miferable Remains of that
famous City, once the glorious Miflrefs of the
World, and defervedly fo, as being then not
only the faired thing under Heaven ; but that,
till the Ambition of a few Perfons corrupted her
equal Government, fhe extended Liberty and
Learning as far as the Glory of her Name, or
the Terror of her Arms. Here, no doubt, all
the Examples he had hitherto read of the Vir¬
tue, Eloquence, Wifdom, or Valor of heran-
tient Citizens, occur’d to his mind ; and could
not but opprefs with grief his generous Soul,
when with his own eys he faw Rom now the
chief Seat of the mod exquifit Tyranny exer¬
cis’d by effeminat Priefts, not reigning in the
World thro any conceiv’d opinion of their Ju-
dice, or dread of their Courage (for to thefe
Qualities they are known and fworn Enemys)
but deluding men with unaccountable Fables,
and difarming ’em by imaginary Fears, they
fill their heads fird with Superdition, and then
their own Pockets with their Mony. Here he
became acquainted with the celebrated Lucas
Holstenius the Vtatican Librarian, who
us’d him with great Humanity, and readily
fhew’d him all the Greec Authors, whether
publifih’d or otherwife, that pad his Care and
Emendations i He alfo prefented him to Car¬
dinal Barberini, who at an entertainment
ofMufic, perform’d at his own expence, look’d

B 2 for

2o T be Life of John Milton.

for him in the Croud, and gave him a kind In-
, vitation. To thank Holstenius for all
thefe Favors, Milton wrote afterwards
from Florence the ninth of his Familiar Letters.
At Rome he likewife commenc’d a Friendfhip
, with the Poet Giovanni Sals.illi,
whr in the following Tetraftich extols him
for writing fo correctly in Greec, Latin, and
Italian.

Cede Meles, cedat defreffa Mincius urna ,
idebetus Tajfum defnat ufque loqui :

Jt Thamefis victor cunctis per at altior undas,
Nam per te, Mtlto, par tribus unus erit .

M i l t o n in return fent to S a l s i l l i, fhort-
ly after lying fick, thofe fine Scazons which
may be read among his Juvenil Poems. And
here too did Se l v a g g i adorn him with this
Diftich.

Gracia M.eonidem, jactet fibi Roma Maronem ;
Anglia Miltonumj act at utrique parem.

Having departed from Rome to Naples , he was
introduc’d by his Fellow Traveller to Gio¬
vanni Battista Manso, Marquifs
of Villa, a Perfon moft nobly defcended, of
great Authority, renown’d for his military At-
chievments, and a Patron of learned Men.
To him the famous Ta s s o infcrib’d his Poem
of Friendfhip, and makes honorable mention

The Life of John Milton. 21

of him among ■ the Princes of Campania, in the
twentieth Book of his Gierufalemme Conquiflata.
He went himfelf to fhew him all the remark¬
able Places of that City, vifited him often at
his Lodging, and made this Diftich in his
Commendation, -which he addrelfes to him¬
felf.

Vt mens , forma , decor y facies, mos ; (ipietas fic.

Non Anglus y verum Herd} Angelas ipfe fores.

This exception of his Piety relates to his being
aProteftant; and the Marquifs told him he
would have don him feveral other good Offices,
had he bin more referv’d in matters of Religi¬
on. But our Author out of Gratitude for all
thefe lingular Favors from one of his high Qua¬
lity, prefented him at his departure with an
incomparable Latin Eclog, intitul’d Manfus y
which is extant among his occafional pieces:
and that I may mention it by the way, I don’t
queftion but it was from Manso’s Conver-
fation and their Difcourfes about Tasso, that
he firft form’d his defign of writing an Epic
Poem, tho he was not fo foon determin’d about
the Subjeft.

H E was now preparing to pafs over into
Sicily and Greece , when he was recal’d by the
fad News of a Civil War beginning in Eng¬
land ; efteeming it an unworthy thing for him
fecurely to be diverting himfelf abroad, when
his Countrymen were contending at home for

B 3 their

2i The Life of John Milton.

their Liberty. Intending therfore to return
to Rome, he was advis’d by Torn Merchants to
the contrary *, for they had learnt from their
Correfpondents, that the Englifb Jefuits were
framing Plots againft him by reafon of the
great Freedom he us’d in his Difcourfes of Re¬
ligion. Notwithstanding, having refolv’d not
to begin any Difputes, but, being ask’d, not to
diflemble his Sentiments whatever might in-
fue, he went the fecond time to Rome , and
flay’d there two months longer, neither con¬
cealing his Name, nor declining openly to de¬
fend the Truth under the Pope’s nofe, whena-
ny thought fit to attack him: yet he return’d
fafe to his learned and affe&ionat Friends in
Florence. I forgot all this while to mention
that he paid a Vifit to Galileo, then an
old man, and a Prifoner to the Inquifition for
thinking otherwife in Aftronomy than pleas’d
the Francifian and Dominican Friers. He tarry’d
two other months in Florence , and having feen
Lucca, Bononia , Ferrara , he arriv’d in Venice.
Alter fpending one month here, and Shipping
off all the Books he collected in his Travels,
he came thro Verona, Milan, crofs the Alps,
and along the Lake Lemanno to Geneva , where
he contracted an intimat Familiarity with Gi¬
ovanni Diodati, a noted Profeifor of
Divinity, and was known to feveral others,
particularly to the celebrated Critic and Anti¬
quary Ezechiel Spanhemjus now a-
live, to whom he wrote the 17 tb of his Familiar

* Letters,

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and Anti'
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sFaliai
Letters,

The Life of John Milton. 25

Letters,and who, together with Calandri-
n 1, and Com more of that City, fent him intelli¬
gence afterwards concerning his Antagonift
Morus, wherofin due order. So leaving this
place, and palling back again thro France, he
did after one year and three month’s Pe¬
regrination return fafe into England, much
about the fame time that King Charles the
Firft made his fecond unfuccefsful Expedition a-
gainft the Scots. As foon as the Complements
of Friends or Acquaintance were over, he hir’d
a handfom Lodging in the City, to be a retreat
for himfelf and his Books in fuch uncertain
and troublefom times. But he continu’d a long
while inconfolable for the lofs of his deareft
Friend and Schoolfellow Charles Dioda-
ti, mention’d before, who dy’d in his abfence.
He was from Lucca originally, but an Englifh-
man born, a Student in Phyfic, and an excel¬
lent Scholar, as I have good reafons to believe,
and appears by two Greec Letters of his to
Milton, very handfomly written, and
which I have now in my hands. Our Author
in mournful Notes bitterly laments the imma¬
ture fate of this young Gentleman*, whom he
denotes by the appellation of Damon in an
Eclog nothing inferior to the Maronian Daphnis ,
and which is to be ftill feen among his Latin
Mifcellanies. By this piece we plainly find that
he had already conceiv’d the Plan of an Epic
Poem, wherof he then defign’d the Subject
fhould be the warlike Aftions of the old Bn~

B 4 tifb

2.4- The Life of John Milton,

tijb Heroes, and particularly of King Ar-
t h u r, as he declares himfelf in thefe Verfes.

Ipfe ego Dardahias Rut up in a per aquora puppes
Dicam, & Pandr ajidos regnum vetus Inogenia ,
Brennumque, Arviragumque Duces , prijc unique
Belinum ,

Et tandem Armoricos Britonum fub lege Colonos ;
Turn gravidam Arturo fatali fraude Iogernen ,
Mendaces vultus ajfumtaque Gorlois arma ,
Merlins Dolus.

But this particular Subject was referv’d for the
celebrated Pen of Sir Richard Black-
more. Som few lines after he declares hij
Ambition of performing fomthing in his native
Language that might perpetuat his Name in
thefe Hands, tho he fhould be the more obfcure
and inglorious by it to the reft of the World.
Kis words, becaufe they are wonderfully fine,
I fhall here infert.

■--- —Mihifatis ampin

Merces , & mthi grande decus (Jim ignotus in
avum

Turn licet , externopenitufque inglorius orbi)

Si me flava comas legat Ufa, & potor Alauni ,
Vorticibufque frequens Abra , & nemus omne
Treanta ,

Et Thamejis me us ante omnes , & T fufca metallis
Tamara, & extremis me difcant Or cades undis .

The Life of John Milton. ij

I faid above that it was by his Converfation
with the Marquifs of Villa, who fo nobly
honor’d the immortal Memory of Tasso,
that ourMiLTON form’d his vaft Defign,
That this was not a mere Conjecture, and
that King A r. t h u r alfo was to be the He¬
ro of that piece, let but thefe Verfes of his
Mmfm be confider’d.;

0 mihi ft mea fors talem concedat amicum
Phcebmos decor affe viros qui tarn bene nor it,
Siquando indigenas revocabo in carmina reges,
Artur unique etiam fub Terris bella movent em ;

Aut dicam invicla fociali fcedere menfe
Magnanimos Heroas, & (0 modo (fir it us adfit)
Frangam Saxonicas Britonum fub Marte Pha¬
langes.

BUT to return to his Lodgings, where we
left him, there, both to be eas’d in the reading of
the beft Authors, and to difcharge his Duty to
his Sifter’s Sons that were partly committed to
his Tuition, he undertook the care of their E-
ducation, and inftrufted them in Latin, Greec ,
Hebrew and other Oriental Dialefts; likewife
in feveral parts of the Mathematics, in Cofmo-
graphy, Hiftory, and fom modern Languages,
as French and Italian. Som Gentlemen of his
intimat Friends, and to whom he could deny
nothing, prevail’d with him to impart the fame
benefits of Learning to their Sons, fpecially
fince the trouble was no more wth many than

2 6 The Life of John Milton.

a few. He that well knew the great eft Perfons
in all ages to have bin delighted with teaching
otheis the Principles of Knowlege and Virtue,
eafily comply d; nor was his Succefs unan-
iweiable to the opinion which was generally
entertain d of his Capacity. And not content
to acquaint hisDifciples with thole Books that
are commonly read in the Schools, wherof- fe-
veral, no doubt, are excellent in their kind
tho others are as trivial or impertinent; he
made them likewife read in Latin the antient
Authors concerning Husbandry, as Cato

, V c AR ic°V C olUmella ’ and Palladi’
Es .’ ado 'Cornelius Celsus the Phy-
lician Pliny’s Natural Hiftory, the Ar-
chiteaure of Vi t ruvius, the Stratagems
of Frontinus, and the Philofophical Po-
ets Lucretius and Manilius To

the ufual Greec Books, as Homer and He¬
siod, he added Aratus,Dio n ysiusPe-

RIECETES, Oppian, QUINTUS Ca-
l aber, Apollonius Rhodius, Plu-

Arc RC i\ X c EN0PH0N > Gian’s Tac¬
tics, and the Stratagems of Polyalnus It

was this greateft fign of a good Man in him

and the higheft Obligation he could lay on his

Friends, without any fordid or mercenary

pui pofes, that gave occafion to his Adverfaries

' V l;°PP robnou % terming him a School-

SLrlvfJ. 0 IT 6 th!S , char g e as true as it is
utterly falfe, I fee not how it fhould any wav

tend to his Diihonor, if 1* had bin necelS

ed

Itl,

® teaching

andVuJ

mm,

;K W|'

, not content
t e Books tin
) whetoffc
intkit
P^tineiit; fe

Cat),
HaUADE
ins tlie Plj,
% tie 4
e Stratagem
ipfalPo.
LIDS, It
x nii
jismsfr.
NT os Cj.
nils, Pit

in) Tit

INUS, 1
bin Ilk
lay oniis

i School-
ns it is
any wa/
.ecefli fat¬
ed

The Life of John Milton. 27

ed to fuch a laborious occupation for his living,
and difeharg’d it with due Honefty and Care.
But what’s very remarkable is, that the moft
forward to reproach him in this manner, were
themfelves mean Tutors in the Univerfity, and
the greateft of ’em only a Profeffor, which are
but nominally diftinguifhable from School-
mafters.

H E tells us himfelf in his fecond Defence,

« That on his return from Travelling he found
“ all mouths open againft the Bifhops, fom
“ cdhiplaining of their Vices, and others quar-
“ relling at the very Order; and that thinking
“ from fuch beginnings a way might be open’d
“ to true Liberty, he heartily ingag’d in the
“ Difpute, as well to refeue his Fellow-Citi-
“ zens from Slavery, as to help the Puritan Mi-
“ nifters, who were inferior to the Bifhops in
“ Learning. He firft of all therfore in the
year 1641. publifh’d two Books of Reforma¬
tion, dedicated to a Friend. In the firft of
thefe he fhews, by orderly fteps, from Henry
the Eighth’s Reign, what were all along the
real impediments in this Kingdom to a perfect
Reformation, which in general he reduces to
two heads, that is, our retaining of Ceremo¬
nies, and confining the Power of Ordination to
Diocefan Bifhops exclufively of the People.
“ Our Ceremonies, he fays, are fenflefs in
“ themfelves, and ferve for nothing but either
u to facilitat our return to Popery ; or to hide
“ the defe&s of better Knowlege, and to fet
" , * “ off

V

2 8 The Life of John Milton.'

<£ off'the Pomp of Prelacy. As for the Bifhops,
many of whom he denys not to hare bin good
Men, tho not infallible, nor above all human
Frailties, he affirms, “ that at the beginning,
“ tho they had renounc’d the Pope, they hug’d
“ the Popedom, and fbar’d the Authority a-
<£ mong themfeives. In King Edward the
Sixth’s time, he affirms, “ they were with
“ their proftitute Gravities the common Stales
“ to countenance every politic fetch that was
“ then on foot. If a Toleration for Mafs were
“ to be beg’d of the King for his Sifter Mary,
“ left Ch a r l e s the Fifth Ihould be angry ;

who but the grave Prelats, Cranmer
“ and Ridley, fhould be fent to extort it
“ from the young King ? When the Lord
“ Sudley, Admiral of England , and the
“ Prote£tor’s Brother, was wrongfully to lofe
<£ his Life, no man could be found litter than
“ Latimer to divulge in his Sermon the
“ forg’d Accufations laid to his charge, ther-
“ by to defame him with the People. Cran-
MER, one of King Henry’s Executors,
“ and the other Bilhops, did, to gratify the
ic Ambition of a Tray tor, confent to ex-
“ elude from the Succeffion, not only Mar y
u the Papift, but alfo Elizabeth the Pro-
£< teftant, tho before declar’d by themfelves
u the lawful Iflue of their late Mafter. In
Queen Elizabeth’s Reign he imputes
the Obftruftions of a further Reformation ftill
to the Bifhops, and then procedes from Anti¬
quity

The Life of John Milton. ip

quity to prove that all Ecclefiaftical Ele&ions
belong’d to the People; but that if thofe Ages
had favor’d Epifcopacy,we fhould not be much
concern’d, fince the bejl times were fpreading-
ly infected^ the bejl Men of thofe times foul¬
ly tainted , and the bejl Writings of thofe Men
dangeroufly adulterated ; which Proportions he
labors to prove at large. In the fecond Book
he continues his Difcourfe of Prelatical Epif-
copacy, difplays the Politics of the fame;
which, according to him, are always oppofit
to Liberty : he deduces the Hiftory of it down
from its remoteft Original, and fhews, that
in England particularly it is fo far from being,
as they commonly allege, the only Form of
Church-Difciplin agreable to Monarchy, that
the mortallelf Difeafes and Convulfions of the
Government did ever procede from the Craft
of the Prelats, or was occafion’d by their Pride.
Then he incourages the Englijh and Scots to
purfue their begun Conteft for Liberty by this
. Exhortation. “ Go on both, hand in hand,
“ O Nations, never to be disunited. Be the
“ Praife and the heroic Song of all Pofterity.

Merit this ; but feek only Virtue, not to
‘‘ extend your limits: for what need you win a
“ fading triumphant Laurel out of the Tears of
<c wretched Men; but to fettle the pure Wor-
“ Ihip of God in his Church, andjuftice in
“ the State? Then fhall the hardeft Difficul-
u ties fmooth out themfelves before you ; Envy
“ fhall fink to Hell, Craft and Malice be con-

“ founded,

30 The Life of John Milton.

u founded, whether it be homebred Mifchief,
“ or outlandifh Cunning: Yea other Nations
“ will then covet to ferve you; for Lordfhip
<c and Victory are but the Pages of Juftice and
u Virtue. Commit fecurely to true Wifdom
“ the vanquifhing and uncafing of Craft and
i( Subtilty, which are but her two Runnagates.
“ Join your invincible Might to do worthy and

Godlike Deeds, and then he that feeks to
“ break your Union, a cleaving Curfe be his
u Inheritance to all Generations.

AFTER this, certain Minifters having
written a Treatifeagainft F.pifcopacy, the Title
Smettymnuus confifting of the initial Letters of
their Names, and a Biflhop of no fmall Autho¬
rity having bellow’d an Anfwer upon it, M i l-
t o n, to ufe his own words, fuppofing him-
felf not lefs able to write for Truth, than o-
thers for their Profit or unjulf Power, publifh’d
his piece of Prelatical Epijcopacy. In this Book
he proves again!! the famous Usher (for he
would not readily ingage a meaner Adverfary)
that Diocefan Epifcopacy, or a fuperior Order
to the common Miniftry, cannot be deduc’d
from the Apolfolical times by the force of fuch
Tellimonies as are alleg’d to that purpofe.
Now Usher’s chief Talent lying in much
reading, and being a great Editor and Admirer
of old Writings, Milton Ihews the Infuf-
ficiency, Inconveniency and Impiety of thi§
method to eUablifh any part of Chriftianity 5
and blames thofe Perfons who cannot think any

Doubt

7 be Life of Jolin Milton.’ 31

Doubt refolv’d, or any Doftrin confirm’d, un-
lefs they run to that indigefted heap and fry of
Authors which they call Antiquity. “ What-
(i foever either Time (fays he) or the heedlefs
“ hand of blind Chance, has drawn down to
u this prefent in her huge Dragnet, whether
“ Fifh or Seaweed, Shells or Shrubs, unpick’d,
unchofen, thofe are the Fathers. Andfohe
chides the good Bifhop for divulging ufelefs
Treatifes, ftuft with the fpecious Names of
Ignatius and Poly carpus, with
Fragments of old Martyrologies and Legends,
to diftrafl: and flagger the multitude of credu¬
lous Readers.

H 16 next performanee was the Reafon of
Church-Government urg'd againjl Prelacy , in two
Books , principally intended againft the fame
Usher’s account of the Original of Epif-
copacy. The Eloquence is mafculin, the Me¬
thod is natural, the Sentiments are free, and
the whole (God knows) appears to have a very
different force from what the Nonconformist
Divines wrote in thofe days, or fince that time,
on the fame Subjeft. In the beginning of the
fecond Book he mentions his defign of writing
an Epic Poem, but continues ftill unrefolv’d,
whether his Hero fhould be fom Prince before
the Conqueft, or the Argument be borrow’d
from the Scripture or the antient Heathen Hi-
ftory. But hecaufe the account he gives of
what the Poet fhould propofe by fuch a work is
exa&ly juft, and withal fo properly expreft, I

3* The Life of John Milton.

fhall not grudg to tranfcribe it in this place.
“ Thefe Abilities (fays he, fpeakingof Inven-
<c tion and Compofition) wherfoever they be
“ found, are the infpir’d Gift of God; rarely
“ bellow’d, but yet to fom (tho moll abufe
“ them) in every Nation, and are of power
“ to breed and cherilh in a great People the
Seeds of Virtue and public Civility, to allay
“ the Perturbations of the Mind, and fet the
“ Affe&ions in a right tune;—or laftly, what-
<£ foever is in Religion holy and fublime, in
“ Virtue amiable or grave, whatfoever has
“ Paffion or Admiration in all the changes of
u that which is call’d Fortune from without,
“ or the wily Subtilties and Refluxes of Mans
<( Thoughts from within, all thefe things with
“ a folid and treatable Smoothnefs to paint out
“ and defcribe. Teaching over the whole
“ Book of San&ity and Virtue thro all the
“ in fiances of Example, and with fuch de-
“ light, to thofeefpecially of a foft and delicious
“ temper (who will not fo much as look up-
ic on Truth her felf, unlefs they fee her elc-
“ gantly drefl) that wheras the Paths of Ho-
“ nelly and good Life appear now rugged and
“ difficult, tho they be indeed eafy and plea-
u fant; they would then appear to all Men
“ both eafy and pleafant, tho they were rugged
<c and difficult indeed. And what a Benefit
this would be to our Youth and Gentry,
u may be foon guell by what we know of the
“ Corruption and Bane which they fuck in

“ daily

4

The Life of John Milton.' 3 j

te daily from the Writings and Interludes of
“ libidinous and ignorant Poetafters ;, who ha v-
“ ing fcarce ever heard of that which is
“ the main confidence of a true Poem, the
“ choice of fuch Perfons as they ought to in-
(< troduce, and what is moral and decent to
u each one, do for the mod part lap up vitious
“ Principles in fweet Pills to be fwallow’d
a down, and make the tade of virtuous Do-
“ cuments harfh and four. But becaufethe
“ Spirit of Man cannot demean it felf lively
“ in this Body without fom recreating inter-
u million of labor and ferious things, it were
a happy for the Commonwealth, if our Ma-
“ gidrats, as in thofe famous Governments of
“ old, would take into their care not only the
“ deciding of our contentious Law cafes or
u Brauls, but the managing of our public
u Sports and leftival Paftimes; that they might
“ not be fuch as were authoriz’d a while fince,

“ the Provocarions of Drunkennefs and Luft,
“ but fuch as may inure and harden our Bodies
“ by martial Exerciles to all warlike Skill and
u Performances; and may civilize, adorn, and
“ make difcrete our Minds by the learned and af-
“ fable meeting of frecjuent Academies, and the
“ procurement of wife and artful Recitations,

“ fweeten’d with eloquent and graceful Intice-
a ments to the love and praftice of Juftice,

“ Temperance and Fortitude, inftru&ing and
“ bettering the Nation at all opportunities,

“ that the voice of Wifdom and Virtue may

G «fc@

34 7 he Life of John Milton.

“ be heard every where. Whether this may
“ not be don, not only in Pulpits, but after
“ another perfuafive method, atfet and fo-
w lemn Paneguries, in Theaters, Porticos, or
u what other place or way may win moft up-
u on the People to receive at once both Recre-
ui ation and Inftru&ion, let them in Authority
u confult.

ANOTHER eminent || Bilhop having writ¬
ten againft Smectymnuus, our Author pub-
lifh’d Animadverfions on his Book ; and to the
Reafons alleg’d from Councils for fubftituting a
conftant form to occafional Prayers in public, lie
gives the following AnfWer. “ Set the grave
“ Councils, fays he, upon their fhelves again,
“ and. fixing them bard, left their various and
“ jangling opinions put their leaves into a
u flutter. I mall not intend this hot Seafon to
“ lead you a courfe thro the wide and dufty

Champain of the Councils; but fhall take
“ counfel of that which counfel’d them, Rea-
“ fon: And tho I know there is anobfolete
“ Reprehenfion now at your Tongues end,
“ yet I fhall be bold to fay, that Reafon is the
<£ Gift of God in one Man as well as in a thou-
“ fand. By that which we have tailed al-
u ready of their Cifterns, we may find that
“ Reafon was the only thing, and not any di-
“ vine Command, that mov’d them to injoin
‘‘ the fet forms of a Liturgy. Firft, left any
<{ thing in general might be miifaid in their
‘‘ public Prayers, thro ignorance or want of

“ care,

|| Jofefb Hall.

The Life of John Milton# } 5

i( care, contrary to the Faith: And next, left
“ the Juans and pelagians in particular fhould
“ infedt the People by their Hymns and Forms
“ of Prayer. But by the good leave of thefe
“ antient Fathers, this was no folid prevention
u of fpreading Herefy, to debar the Minifters
« of God the ufe of their nobleft Talent,

« Prayer in the Congregation ; unlefs they had
“ forbid the ufe of all Sermons and Ledtures too
“ but fuch as were ready made to their hands
“ like our Homilies: or elfe he that was here-
“ tically difpos’d had as fair an opportuni-
“ ty of infedting in his Difcourfe, as in his
“ Prayer or Hymn. As infufficiently, and,

“ to fay truth, as imprudently did they pro-
“ vide by their contriv’d Liturgies, left any
“ thing fhould be pray’d thro ignorance or
“ want of care in the Minifters: for if they
“ were carelefs and ignorant in their Prayers,
tC certainly they would be more carelefs in
“ their preaching, and ftill more carelefs in
“ watching over their Flock ; and what pre-
“ fcription could reach to bound them in both
(e thefe ? What if Reafon, now illuftrated by
“ the Word of God, fhall be able to produce a
<( better Prevention than thefe Councils have
“ left us againft Herefy, Ignorance, or want
<c of care in the Miniftry, to wit, that fuch
<( Wifdom and Diligence be us’d in the Edu-
“ cation of thofe that would be Minifters,
“ and fuch a ftridt and ferious Examination to
be undergon before their admiflion, a St.

C 2 “ Paul

3 6 The Life of John Milton.

“ Paul to Timothy fets down at large ; and then
“ they need not carry fuch an unworthy fuf-
« picion over the Preachers of God’s Word,
u as to tutor their Unfoundnefs with the a, b,

“ c, of a Liturgy, or to diet their Ignorance
“ and want of Care with the limited draught
a of a Mattin and Evenfong drench. What
his Opinion was of the Fathers he fuither de¬
clares, when he calls them thole moie antient
than trufty Fathers, whom Cuftom and
“ fond Opinion, weak Principles, and the neg-
lea of founder Knowlege, has exalted lo
« high, as to have gain’d them a blind Reve-
« rence whofe Books in bignefs and number
u endlefs and immeafurable, I cannot think
“ that either God or Nature, either divine or
“ human Wifdom, did ever mean mouldl be a
« Rule or Reliance to us in the decifion of any
“ weighty and pofitive Do&rins: for cer-
“ tainly every Rule and Inftrument of ne-
“ ceflary Knowlege that God has given us,
« ought to be fo in proportion as may be wield-
tC ed and manag’d by the Life of Man, with-
“ out penning him up from the Duties of hu-
« man Society .—But he that Shall bind him-
« felf to make Antiquity his Rule, if he reads
« but part (befides the difficulty of choice)
« his Rule is deficient, and utterly unfatisfy-
“ ing ; for there may be other Writers of a-
<c nother mind, which he has not feen : And it
(t he undertakes all, the length of Man s Life
“ cannot extend to give him a full and requifit
« “ know-

"Worthy |
God’s %
wither
felfnna

raid, 1

more mi;

tbee

exalted:
u Hind Is

cannot tl

!ii Mi
ledfionofir
k for ce
n of»
has gkna
bf'

The Life of John Milton. 37

u knowlege of what was don in Antiquity-.—
Go therfore and ufe all your Art, apply your
“ Sledges, your Leavers, and your iron Crows,
<£ to heave and hale your mighty Polyphe-
“ m us of Antiquity, to the delufion of No¬
vices and unexperienc’d Chriftians. The
prefent Ecclefiafticai Revenue-, he fays, were
“ not at firft the effeHs of jull Policy or whole-
“ fom Laws, but of the fuperftitious Devoti-
“ on of Princes and great Men that knew no
better, or of the bafe importunity of beg¬
ging Friers, haunting and ha raffing the
“ Deathbeds of Men departing this Life in a
<c blind and wretched condition of hope to me-
“ rit Heaven for the building of Churches,
u , Cloyfters, and Convents; the black Reve-
“ nues of Purgatory, the price of abus’d and
u murder’d Souls, the damn’d Simony of
“ Trentals, and the hire of Indulgences to
“ commit mortal Sin.

MILT ON’S next Book was his Apology
againif the fame Reverend Perfon who tax’d his
Animadverfions with being a fcurrilous Libel.
This Adverfary, as it has always bin the cu-
.ftom of fom People when they can neither an-
fwer well nor defend, had recourfe to Diffa-
mation and perfonal Reflexions, which, had
they bin true, could not derogat from the
force of his Arguments but, being falfe, mull

have found the leifure to read his name unwor-

C 3 thily

CC

u

a

\ The Life of John Milton.

thilv diffam’d, that they would be fo good and |
fo patient as to hear the fame Perfon not un- I
needfully defended. Being accus d of having
bin an inordinat and riotous Youth vomited
out of the Univerfity, he makes this reply;
ic For this commodious Ly I thank him ; for it j
has given me an apt occafion to acknowlege
« publicly with all grateful mind that more
u than ordinary Favor and Refpeft which I
« found above any of my Equals at the hands
a 0 t thofe courteous and learned Men, the
«< Fellows of that College wherin I fpent fom
« vears: who at my parting, after having tak*.

« en two Degrees (as the manner is) lignily d
a many ways how much better it would con-
<c tent them that I fhould ftay, as by many
lc Letters full of Kindnefsand loving Refpett,

« both before that time and long after, I was
« affur’d of their fingular good Affetbon to-
«• wards me. Which being likewife propente
« to all fuch as were for their ftudious and civil
« Life worthy of Efteem, I could not wrong
« their Judgments and upright Intentions fo
“ much as to think I had that regard from them
« for any other caufe than that I might be
« ftill incourag’d to procede in the honeft and
“ laudable Courfe, of which they apprehend¬
ed ed I had given good proof.—As for the corn¬
ed mon Approbation or Diflike of that place,
u as now it is, that I fhould efteem or difefteem
« my felf or any other the more for that, is
a too flmple and too credulous in the Confute^
« if he thinks to obtain with me or any right

u Dilcernera

The Life of John Milton. } 9

« Difcerner. Of fmall praaice was that Phy-
“ fician who could not judg by what both fhe
“ or her Sifter have of a long time vomited,
u that the worfe fluff fhe ftrongly keeps in hei
« Stomach, but the better fhe is ever kecking
“ a t, and is queafy. She vomits now out oi
u Sicknefs, but e’re it be well with hei fhe
“ mu ft vomit by ftrong Phyfic. lheSub-
« urb wherin I dwell fhall be in my account a
u more honorable place than his Univerfity,
which, as in the time of her bettei Health,
u and my own younger Judgment, I never
il greatly admir’d, fo now much lefs. 1 ms
is not the only paffage of the Apology, wherin
he teftifys his Contemt of the Universities,
form another place he fays, “ that what with
“ Truanting and Debauchery, what with talte
<c Grounds, and the weaknefs of natural Fa-
“ culties in many of them (it being a
« Maxim with fom Men to fend the fim-
pleft of their Sons thither) perhaps theie
^ would be found among them as many unfo-
<£ lid and corrupted Judgments, both in Doc-
« trin and Life, as in any other two Corpora-
« tions of like bignefs. This is undoubted,
“ that if any Carpenter, Smith, or Weaver,
u were fuch a bungler in his Trade, as the
“ greater number of them are in their Tro-
« feffion, he would ftarve for any Cuftom:
<c And fhould he exercife his Manufa£lure as
« little as they do their Talents, he would for -
get his Art: or fhould he miftake his Tools
" & C. a “as

40 The Life of John Milton.

'<■ as they do theirs, he would mar all the work
“ he took in hand. How few among them that
<£ know how to write or fpeak in a pure ftile,
much lefs todiftinguifh the Ideas and various
“ kind of Stile! In Latin barbarous,and oft not
£t without Solcecifms, declaming in rugged
“ and mifcellaneous Gear blown together by
“ the four Winds; and in their choice prefer-
$ e ring the gay ranknefs of Apuleius, A r-
“ nobius, or any modern Fujlianifi , before
<c the native Latinifms of Cicero. In the
Greec Tongue moft of them unletter’d or
<£ unenter’d to any found Proficiency in thofe
“ Attic Mafters of Wifdom and Eloquence.
f‘ In the Hebrew Text, except it be fom few of
“ them, their Lips are utterly uncircumcis’d.
4£ No lefs are they out of the way in Philofo-
££ phy, peftring their heads with the faplefs
tc Dotages of old Paris and Salamanca, His
Antagonift infinuating a malicious Reprefenta-
tion even of his early riling, he tells him, that
“ his Morning haunts are, where they fhould
f £ be, at home; not deeping, or concofting
f. c the Surfeits of an irregular Feaft, but up
4£ and ftirring, in Winter often before the
c ‘ Sound of any Bell awakens Men to Labor
<£ or Devotion; in Summer as oft as the Bird
\ c that firft roufes, or not much tardier, to read
iC good Authors, or caufe them to be read,
<f £ till the Attention be weary, or the Memory
Ci have its full fraught. Then with ufeful and
| £ generous Labors preferving the Bodys Health

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The life of- John Milton. 41

“ and Hardinefs, to render a lightfom, clear,

« and not a lumpifh Obedience to the xVhnd,
for the caufe of Religion, and cur Coun-
“ trys Liberty, when it fhall require firm
“ Hearts in found Bodies to ftand and cover
“ their Stations, rather than fee the Ruin of
« our Proteftation, and the inforcement of a
« flavifh Life. Paffing over his ferious and juft
Apology for frequenting Playhoufes, I iliali
fubjoin the Reafon he gives why lorn terms of
the Stage might appear in his Writings with¬
out having learnt them in the T. heater, which
“ was not needful, fays he, when in theCol-
“ leges fo many of the young Divines, and
« thofe in next aptitude to Divinity, have bin
“ feen fo often on the Stage, writhing and un-
u boning their Clergy Lims to all the antic
« and difhoneft Geftures of Trinculos, Buf-
“ foons, and Bauds: proftitutingthefhameof
« that Miniftry, which either they had or were
« nigh having, to the eys of Courtiers and
Court Ladys, with their Grooms and Ma-
“ demoifelles. There while they atted and
« overa&ed, among other young Scholars I
« was a Spefliator; they thought themfelves
“ gallant Men, and I thought them Fools;
« they made fport, and I laugh’d ; they mif-
pronounc’d, and I miflik’d ; and, to make
“ up the Atticifm, they were out, and I hift.
He was to anfwer next to the heavy charge of
Leudnefs with common Proftitutes; and be-
caufe the account he gives of himfelf upon this

occa-

4 i Tlx Life of John Milton.

occafion, and of that part of his Poetry which
regards the affairs of Love, is not only elfen-
tial to the Hiftory of his Life, but of good In-
ftrudfion alfo to fuch as read fuch pleafant and
alluring Books, I fuppofe none will be offended
with me for laying it here before them. “ I
“ had my time, fays he, like others that have
u good Learning beflow’d upon them, to be
“ fent to thofe places where the opinion was it
“ might be fooneft attain’d ; and, as the man-
4 ‘ ner is, was not unftudy’d in thofe Authors
“ which are moft commended. Of thefe fom
were grave Oratorsand Hilforians,whofe mat-
<c ter methought I lov’d indeed ; but as my Age
“ then was, fo I underffood them. Others
“ were the fmooth Elegiac Poets, wherof the
“ Schools are not fcarce, whom both for the
“ pleafing found of their numerous Writings
*' (which in imitation I found moft eafy, and
“ moft agreable to Nature’s part in me) and
“ for their matter, which what it is there be
“ few who know not, I was fo allur’d to read,
“ that no Recreation came to me more welcom :
“ for that it was then thofe years with me,
“ which are excus’d tho they be leaft fevere,
“ I may be fav’d the labor to remember you.
<c Whence having obferv’d them to account it
u the chief Glory of their Wit that they were
“ ableft to judg, to praife, and by that could
tc efteem themfelves worthieft to love thofe
“ high Perfedfions, which under one or other
" name they took to celebrat; I thought with

_X

t0t1, The Life of John Mikon. 45

< ‘ i my felf by every Inftinft and Prefage of

The Life of John Mikon.

ot °nlye| “ Nature (which is not wont to befalfe) that
lto f good[- “ what embolden’d them to this task, might
'.Wants u with fuch diligence as they us’d embolden
®beofiat “ me: and that what Judgment, Wit, orE-
* them, 1 “ legance, was my fihare, would herein bell

fetf&sk “ appear, and beft value it felf, by how much
''them,!!: “ more wifely and with more love of Virtue

opinion}- “ I fhould chufe the Objeft: of not unlike Prait-
i, asthei, “ es. For tho thefe Thoughts to fom will
thofe Aiife <£ feem virtuous and commendable, to others:
Of tte[r u only pardonable, to a third fort perhaps idle;
ms.whofcEt u yet the mentioning of them now will end in
butastej ‘‘ ferious. Nor blame it, Readers, in thofe
ten, |)tv a years to propofe to themfelves fuch a Re¬
's, wheroft “ ward as the nobleft Difpofitions above other
“ things in this Life have fomtimes prefer’d :
rtnsfc <c wherof not to be fenfible, when good and
10 § H fn j “ fair in one Perfon meet, argues both a grofs
“ and fhallow Judgment, and withal an un-
“ gentle and fwainifh Break. For by the firm
k’koi: a fettling of thefe Perfuafions I became (to

U m y beft memory) fo much a Proficient,

jjju u that if I found thofe Authors any where

a /■ u fpeaking unworthy things of themfelves, or

"ft “ unchaft of thofe Names which before they
f :. “ had extol’d, this eftebl it wrought with me,

, ic that from that time forward their Art I ftill

Y I j “ applauded, but the Men I deplor’d; and a-

y “ bove them all prefer’d the two famous Re-
f , “ nowners of Beatrice and Laura,

“ who never write but Honor of them to

“ whom.

44 77>e Life of John Milton.

whom they devote their Verfe, difplaying
“ fublime and pure Thoughts without tranf-
“ greflion. And long it was not after, when
“ I was confirm’d in the opinion that he, who
“ who would not be fruftrated of his hope to
“ write well hereafter in laudable things, ought
“ himfelf to be a true Poem ; that is, acompo-
“ fition and pattern of the beft and honorableft
“ things: not prefuming to fing the high Praif-
“ es or heroic Men or famous Cities, unlefs
“ he has in himfelf the Experience and thePrac-
“ tice of all that is praifewortliy. Thefe Rea-
“ fonings, together with a certain nicenefs of
i( Nature, an honeft Haughtinefs and Self-
“ efteem either of what I was,or what I might
“ be (which let Envy call Pride) and laftly,
“ a becoming Modefty, all uniting the Supply
“ of their natural aid together, kept me ftill
above thofe low Defcents of Mind, beneath
“ which he muft dejeft and plunge himfelf
“ that can agree to falable and unlawful Profti-
“ tutions. Next I betook me among thofe
“ lofty Fables and Romances .which recount in
u folemn Cantos the Deeds of Knighthood
a founded by our vifforious Kings, and from
ic hence had in renown over all Chriftendom.
“ There I read it in the Oath of every Knight,
a that he fhould defend to the expence of his
beft Blood, or of his Life, if it fo befel him,
u the Honor and Chaftity of Virgin or Ma-
u tron : from whence even then I learnt what
u a qoble Virtue Chaftity fure muft be, to the

« de-

The Life of John Milton. 45-

“ defence of whiph fo many Worthies by fuch
u a dear Adventure of themfelves had fworn ;
“ and if I found? in the Story afterwards any of
u them by word or deed breaking that Oath,
“ I judg’d it the fame fault of the Poet, as
“ that which is attributed to Homer, to
<£ have written undecent things of the Gods.
cC Only this my mind gave me, that every free
“ and gentle Spirit without that Oath ought to
ic be born a Knight, nor needed to expett the
“ gilt Spur, or the laying of a Sword upon
“ his- Shoulder, to ftir him up both by his
“ Counfil and his Arm, to fecure and proteft
“ the weaknefs of any attemted Chaftity. So
“ that even thofe Books, which to many 0-
<£ thers have bin the fuel of Wantonnefs and
u loofe Living (Icannot think how, unlefs by
“ divine Indulgence) prov’d to me fo many
£t Inticements, ns you have heard, to the love
<£ and ftedfaft obfervation of that Virtue which
u abhors the Society of Bordellos. Thus
“ from the Laureat Fraternity of Poets, riper
tc years, and the ceallefs round of Study and
“ Reading led me to the fhady walks of Phi-
“ lofophy ; but chiefly to the divine Volumes of
“ Plat o,and his equal Xenophon: where
“ if I fhould tell you what I learnt of Chaftity
<£ and Love (I mean that which is truly fo,
<£ whofe charming cup is only Virtue, which
££ fhe bears in her hand to thofe who are wor-
“ thy ; the reft are cheated with a thick in-
i( toxicating Potion, which a certain Sorcerefs,

“ the

4 < The JJfe of John Mikon.

“ the Abnfer of Love’s Name, carries about:

“ and if I fhould tell you.how the firft and
<£ chiefeft Office of Love begins and ends in
“ the Soul, producing thofe happy Twins of
u her divine Generation, Knowlege and Vir-
<£ tue) with fuch abftra&ed Sublimities as
<£ thefe, it might be worth your liftening,

“ Readers, as 1 may one day hope to have you
<£ in a ftill time, and when there fhall be no
“ chiding. Thus far our Author, who after¬
wards made this Chara&er good in his inimi¬
table Poem of Paradife Lofi : and before this
time in his Comm or Mask prefented at Ludlow
Caftle, like which Piece in the peculiar difpo-
fition of the Story, the fweetnefs of the Num¬
bers, the juftnefs of the Expreffion, and the
Moral it teaches, there is nothing extant in any
Language. But to procede with the reft of
the Apology, he’s in it very fevere upon the
Clergy, not only becaufe in his Judgment he
condemn’d feveral of their Maxims, but alfo
provok’d by the ill ufage he receiv’d. Cer¬
tainly nothing more barbarous and inhuman
ever proceded from the mouth of Pope or Muf¬
ti, than this faying of his Antagonift, <c You
u that love Chrift, and know this mifcreant
“ Wretch, ftonehim to death, left you fmart
“ for his Impunity. No wonder that fo many
are fcandaliz’d when they find the name of
Christ moft impudently alleg’d to counter
nance fuch devilifh Practices, when there is no¬
thing more evident than that he exprefly injoin’d

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The Life of John Milton. 47

his Followers to forgive their Enemies, and not
to purfue ’em with the Spirit of Revenge, but
rather to reclame them from their Errors, and
to do ’em all the good they could. Our Au¬
thor, on the other hand, carries his Refent-
ments, no doubt, too far, when the following
words could drop from his Pen. <c There be
u fuch in.the World, and I among thofe, who
<c nothing admire the Idol of a Bifhoprick; and
hold that it wants fo much to be aBlef-
u fing, as that I deem it the mereft, the falfeft,
“ the moft unfortunat Gift of Fortune: and
“ were the Punifhment and Mifery of being a
Bifhop terminated only in thePerfon, and did
te not extend to the AffliGion of the whole Dio-
<£ cefs, if I would wifh any thing in the bit-
“ ternefs of my Soul to an Enemy, I (hould
“ wifh him the biggeft and fattefl: Bifhoprick.
If M 1 l t o n had bin fucli a Saint as never
miff of a favorable anfwer to his Prayers, I
queftion not but at this rate more would covet
to be his Enemies than his Friends. Another
mark of his good Will to the Prelats is this un¬
pardonable Simile. “ A Bifhop’s Foot, fays
u he, that has all its Toes (maugre the Gout)
“ and a linen fock over it, is the aptefl: Em-
“ blem of thePrelat himfelf; who, being a
<c Pluralift, may under one Surplice hide four
“ Benefices, beiides the great Metropolitan To
“ which fends a foul ftench to Heaven. And

48 The Life of John Milton.

u all found DoQ'rin. Agreable to thefe Flow',
ers is his Defcription of Chaplains fomwhere in
IconocUjies. “ Bifhops or Presbyters we know,
“ fays he, and Deacons we know ; but what
u are Chaplains ? In State perhaps they may
“ be lifted among the upper Serving men of
“ fom great Houfhold, and be admitted to
“ fom fuch place as may ftile them the Sewers
“ or Yeomenufhers of Devotion, where the
<c Mafter is too refty, or too rich to fay his own
“ Prayers, or to blefs his own Table. How
much he lov’d to divert himfelf in this manner,
we may perceive by his Apoftrophe to the
Presbyterian Minifters, who were heavily
branded by King Charles the Firft, tho
after his Death they would fain be thought his
very dutiful and good Friends. “ O ye Mini-
u fters, faysMiLTON, read here what work
“ he makes among your Gallypots, your Balms,
“ and your Cordials, and not only your fweet
“ Sippets in Widows Houfes, but the huge
“ Gobbets wherwith he charges you to have
“ devour’d Houfes and all. Cry him up for a
“ Saint in . your Pulpits, while he crys you
“ down for Atheifts into Hell. Nor is he
more merciful to the Liturgy, than to the Read¬
ers of it, as appears by this Chara&er. “ To
“ contend that it is fantaftical, if not fenflefs
<c in fom places, were a copious Argument,
“ fpecially in the Refponfories. For fuch Al-
“ ternations as are there us’d muft be by fcveral
“ Perfons; but the Minifter and the People can-

*J not

The Life of John Milton. 4S^I

u not fo fever their Interefts as to fuftain feve- ^
w ral Perfons, he being the only month of the
“ whole Body which he prefents. And if the
“ People pray, he being filent, or they ask one
“ thing and he another, it either changes the
<£ Property, making the Prieft the People, and
ic the People the Prieft by turns, or elfe makes
4t two Perfons and two Bodies Reprefentative
te where there fhould be but one: which, if
“ there were nothing elfe, muft be a ftrange
u Quaintnefs in ordinary Prayer. The like or
“ worfe may be faid of the Litany, Wherin
ic neither Prieft nor People fpeak any intire
“ Senfe of themfelves throout the whole (I
ic know not what to name it) only by the
“ timely contribution of their parted ftakes,
u doling up as it were the Schifm of a llic’d
“ Prayer, they pray not in vain ; for by this
“ means they keep Life between them in a
piece of gafping Senfe, and keep down the
t( Saucinefs of a continual rebounding Non-
“ fenfe. And hence it is that as it has bin far
“ from the imitation of any warranted Prayer,

“ fo we all know it has bin obvious to be tire
“ pattern of many a Jig. And he who has
“ but read in good Books of Devotion, and
ic no more, cannot be fo either of Ear or Judg-
merit unpra&is’d to diftinguifh what is grave,

“ pathetical, devout, and what not; but he
will prefently perceive this Liturgy all over
(( in conception lean and dry, of Affe&ions
emty, and unmoving of PafFion, or any
D

n i mtm

50 7 be Life of John Milton.'

“ height wherto the Soul might foar upon the
“ wings of Zeal, deftitute and barren. Befides
“ Errors, Tautologies, Impertinences, as thofe
“ Thanks in the Woman’s Churching for her
delivery from Sunburning and Moonblaft-
“ ing, as if fhe had bin travelling, not in her
ic Bed, but in the Deferts of Arabia. So that
“ while fom men ceafe not to admire the in-
<( comparable Frame of our Liturgy, I cannot
“ but admire as fall what they think is becom
“ of Judgment and Tafte in other men, that
“ they can hope to be heard without Laugh-
“ ter. And if this were all, perhaps it were
“ a compilable matter. But when we re-
et member this our Liturgy, where we found
a it, whence we had it, and yet where we
“ left it, ftill ferving to all the Abominations
“ of the Antichriftian Temple, it may be
u wonder’d how we can demur, whether it
“ fhould be abolifh’d or no, and not rather
“ fear we have highly offended in ufing it fo
“ long. It has indeed bin pretended to be
“ more antient than the Mafs, but fo little
“ prov’d, that wheras other corrupt Liturgies
“ have had fuch a feeming Antiquity, that
“ their Publifhers have ventur’d to afcribe them
u either to Saint Peter, St. James, St.
“ M ark, or at leaf!: to Chrysostom,
“ or B a s 1 l, ours has bin never able to find
“ either Age or Author allowable on whom to
father thofe things which therin are leaft of-
“ fenfive, except the t\yo Creeds. I fhall

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The Life of John Milton. 5 1

conclude my account of his Books concerning
religious Controverfies with this remarkable
account of his reading in the Councils and
Fathers of the Church. “ Som years, fays he,
“ I had fpent in the Stories of thofe Greec and
<e Roman Exploits, wherin I found many things
“ both nobly don and worthily fpoken : when
“ coming in the method of time to that age
<£ wherin the Church had obtain’d a Chrijlian
“ Emperor, I fo prepar’d my felf as being now
u to read examples of Wifdom and Good-
<c nefs among thofe who were foremoft in the
u Church, not elfwhere to be parallel’d. But
u to the amazement of what I expe&ed,
“ Readers, I found it quite contrary ; except-
“ ing in fom very few, nothing but Ambition,
u Corruption, Contention, Combuftion: in-
a fomuch that I could not but love the Hifto-
“ rian Socrates, who in the Proem to
“ his fifth Book profelfes, he was fain to in-
“ termix Affairs of State, for that it would be
“ elfe an extreme annoyance to hear in a con-
<£ tinu’d Difcourfe the endlefs Brabbles and
w Counterplottings of the Bifhops. Finding
“ therfore the molf of their Aftions in par-
“ ticular to be weak and yet turbulent, full of
“ Strife and yet fiat of Spirit, and the fum of
<£ their beft Councils there collected to be moft
a commonly in Queftions either trivial and
“ vain, or elfe of fhort and eafy decifion,
“ without that great buftle which they made:
i( I concluded that if their fingle Ambition and

D 2 Igno-

5 1 7be Life of John Milton.

“ Ignorance was fuch, then certainly united
« in a Council it would be much more ; and
“ if the compendious recital of what they there
« did was fo tedious and unprofitable, then
“ Purely to fit out the whole extent of their tat-
u tie in a dozen Volumes, would be a lofs of
“ time irrecoverable. Befides that which I
« had read of St. Martin, who for his laftfix-
« teen years could never be perfuaded to be at
« any Council of the Bifhops; and Gregory
« Nazianzen betook him to the fame
« refolution, affirming to Procopius that
“ of any Council or Meeting of Bifhops he
« never faw good end, nor any remedy ther-
« by of evil in the Church, but rather an
« increafe: for, fays he, their Contentions

and defire of Lording no Tongue is able to
“ exprefs.

IN the year 1643 he chang’d his condition,
and was marry’d to Mary the Daughter of
Richard Powel of ForreftlnlL'm OxfordJJjire,
a fuftice of the Peace, and a man of good figure
in that Country. But whether it was that this
young Woman, accuftom’d to a large and jovi¬
al Family, could not live in a Philofophical Re¬
tirement ; or that fhe was not perfe&ly fatisfy’d
with the Perfon of her Husband; or laftly,
that, becaufe her Relations were all add idled to
the Royal Intereft, his Democratical Principles
were difagreable to her Humor (nor is it
impoffible that the Father repented of his match
upon the profpedl of fom Succefs on the King’s

The Life of John Milton. > ;

fide, who then had his Headquarters at Oxford)
or whatever were the reafon, ’tis certain that
after he injoy’d her Company at London about
a month, fbe was invited by her Friends to
fpend the reft of the Summer in the Country ;
to which he confented, on condition of her re¬
turn by Michaelmas. Yet he faw her not at
the time appointed, and, after receiving feveral
of his Letters without fending him any anfwer,
fhe did at length pofitively refufe to com, dif-
miftinE his MelTenger with contemt. This
ufage incens’d him to that degree, that he
thought it againft his Honor and Repofe to own
her any longer for his Wife. He made that
time however as eafy to himfelf as he might,
fomtimes by keeping a gaudy day with his
Friends, and at other times in convention
with the Lady Margaret Lee, Daugh¬
ter to the Earl of Marlborough , whofe fprightly
Wit and good Senfe drew frequent Vifits from
him, and for whom he had a fingular efteem,
which he has left recorded by a Sonnet in her
Praife among his other occafional Poems. He
thought it now high time to juftify by proper
Arguments the firm Refolution he had taken of
never receiving his Wife back again; and ther-
fore in the year 1644 he publifh’d his Doc-
trin and Difcipltn of Divorce, which he de¬
dicated to the Parlament and to the Alfem-
bly of Divines, that as they were bufy then
about the general Reformation of the King¬
dom, they might alfo take this particular cafe

D ? of

54 T&e Life of John Milton.

of domeflic Liberty into their confideration:
for he thought all the boafted Freedom of pub¬
lic Judicatures fignify’d little, if in the mean
while one mufl be oblig’d to indure a kind of
Servitude at home below the Dignity of a Man.

“ What thing, fays he, is more inftituted to
“ the Solace and Delight of Man than Marri-
age? And yet the mifinterpreting of fom
u Scriptures directed mainly againft the Abu-
“ fers of the Law for Divorce given by
“ Moses, has chang’d the Blefling of Matri-
“ mony not feldom into a familiar and cohabit-
“ ing Mifchief; at leafl, into a drooping and
“ difconfolat houfhold Captivity, without Re-
“ fuge or Redemtion. So ungovern’d and fo
“ wild a race dos Superflition run us, from one
“ Extreme of abus’d Liberty into the other of
“ unmerciful Reftraint! Tho God in the firft
<c ordaining of Marriage taught us to what end
u he did it (the words exprefly implying the apt
u and chearful Converfation of Man with Wo-
“ man, to comfort and refrefh him of the evil
a of a folitary Life; not mentioning the pur-
‘‘ pofe of Generation till afterwards, as being
“ but a fecondary end in Dignity tho not in
“ Neceflity) yet now if any two be but once
“ handed in the Church, and have tailed in any
“ fort the nuptial Bed, let them find them-
“ felves never fo miflaken in their Difpofitions
w thro any Error, Concealment, or Mifadven-
u ture; that thro their different Tempers,
“ Thoughts, and Conflitutions, they can nei-

* “ ther

on.

^onaofp
' l ® tie |
he alis
Pityofat,

teinftitu
anthanl
ireting t[j
^inft tbe|
orce gitc|
tffingrfl
Jiarandafe
adtoopii;
ty, withi:
govern’d je
un us, frai
into tied
God in tit!
itustowki
implyingil:
'Mm#
i lira of it
rangtkp
ais, Jilt
nity tloi.
vo beta®
vetatta
etn Wd®
leirJijofiw

\g 0 i
ror Temp:
ilq cat*

The Life of John Milton. 55

i< ther be to one another a remedy againft
ic Lonelinefs, nor live in any Union or Con-
u tentment all their days : yet they fhall
“ (f 0 they be but found futably weapon’d to
« the lead: poflibility of fenfual Enjoyment)

“ be made in fpite of Antipathy to fadg toge-
« ther, and combine, as they may, to their un-
tl fpeakable Wearifomnefs, and defpair of all
« fociable Delight, in the Ordinance which
« God eftablifh’d to that very end. Then he
largely fbews all the unjuft Sanctions concern¬
ing Marriage to be owing to the Superftition of
fom antient Fathers, and to the defign of pro¬
moting the Gain or Authority of the Clergy,
as they make a part of the Canon Law: For
the Greecs, the Romans , and all civiliz’d Na¬
tions, did not only allow of Divorce upon mu¬
tual Averfion or Confent; but in many other
cafes, befides the violation of the nuptial Bed,
there was a Separation made on the Petition of
one Party, tho the other Ihould not be willing.
His purpofe, in fhort, is to fhew that there are
other fufficient Reafons for Divorce befides A-
dultery; and that to prohibit any fort of Di¬
vorce but fuch as are excepted by Moses, is
unjuft and againft the Reafon of the Law: in
handling which Heads he has, befides his Ar¬
guments from Reafon, had always a due care
to explain thofe Paffages of Scripture which are
thought to contradi£t his Opinion. The grand
Pofition he maintains is. That Indifpofition, Vn-
ftnefsy or contrary Humors , procedzng from any

D 4 unchangeable

5 6 The Life of John Milton.

unchangeable eaufe in Nature , h wiring and always
likely to hinder the main ends and benefits of conju¬
gal Society (that is to jay. Peace and Delight) are
greater Reafons of Divorce than ADULT ERT
or natural f RIGID ITT, provided there be a
mutual Confentfor Separation. And indeed it
feems to he a perfect Tyranny to oblige a Man
or Woman beyond the defign of their Cove¬
nant : nor fhould they, who never try’d this
condition together, be hinder’d from difcrete-
ly and orderly undoing it, when they find
things otherwife than they promis’d them-
felves; no more than in any other bargain Peo¬
ple are punifh’d for unwilful Ignorance: fince,
whenever both Parties are willing, they may
draw back their hakes, and leave matters as
they were before, or compound for the Dama¬
ges that may be don. It feems likewife to me
very grofs, that in Lawmaking (particularly in
the Canon Law) a regard fhould be had to the
fit Difpofition of the marry’d Couples Bodies,
and no confideration of the Agreablenefs of
their Minds, when the Charms of the latter are
often the greateft inducements to the conjuncti¬
on of the former. And fince no Man or Wo¬
man can be fecure of true Information from
others, qor infallible in their own Obfervations
upon one another’s Humors and Conditions
(fpecially fince they are not admitted to a requi-
fit Familiarity for fuch an inquiry before Mar¬
riage) it is the hardeft thing in the world that
no Claufes fhould be provided for cafes of this

' nature/

The Life of John Milton.' 57

nature. As for the common Objection, that Mar¬
riage is a Remedy againft Fornication and Adul¬
tery, I grant it to be moft true, if the Parties mu¬
tually love ; but if it be a forc’d Compact, or
afterwards diflik’d, it is fo far from producing
this good effect, that we clearly fee by con-
flant Experience (and Reafon may convince
us all of it) that fuch a fatal Knot expofes Men
and Women to various Temtations, breaks
the Peace of Families, expofes the Reputation
of the Children, and difturbs or deftroys all the
Duties of Society. Nor dos it anfwer the firft
Inftitution which fuppofes it was not good for
Man to be alone, fince every body would ra¬
ther chule to be alone than be forc’d to keep bad
Company. To conclude, Marriage certainly,
like all other Contracts, was ordain’d for the
benefit of Man, and not Man created for Mar¬
riage : wherfore it ought to be futed to his
Convenience and Happinefs, and not be
made a Snare to render him uneafy or mifera-
ble. No Pretences can be drawn from this
Opinion to favor Libertinifm, but on the con¬
trary, the Conduct of the Oppofers of it may
be terribly hamper’d with infamous Consequen¬
ces, on which we fhall not infill in this place,
referring the curious to Milton’s own
Book. As for the Popifh and ridiculous prac¬
tice in certain Spiritual Courts of feparating
People from bed and board (which any Cou¬
ple may agree to do themfelves) and refilling
’em the liberty of marrying more for their con¬
venience

5 3 The Life of John Milton."

venience (if the Civil Power dos not interpofc
for their Relief) I fhall have a more proper op¬
portunity to lhew the Mifchief and Unreafona-
blenefs of it.

ON the firft appearing of this Book, the
Clergy did generally dgclame againft it, and
fix’d upon the Author the ufual Reproaches of
Atheifm, Herefy, Leudnefs, and what not ?
They daily inftigated the Parlament, which
little minded their Clamors, to pafs their Cen-
fure on it; and at laft one of them in a Ser¬
mon before that Auguft Aftembly, on a day
of Humiliation, roundly told them that there
was a wicked Book abroad which deferv’d to
be burnt, and that among their other Sins they
ought to repent it had not yet bin branded with
a mark of their Difpleafure. This man’s main
accufation being, that Milton taught other
caufes of Divorce than were mention’d by
Christ and his Apoftles, which was alfo urg’d
againft him at the fame time by fom others, he
publifh’d the Tetrachordon , dedicated to the
Parlament, or his Expofition of the four chief
Paffages of Scripture that treat of Marriage,
and the nullifying of the fame, namely Gen.
1.27, &c. Gen. 2. 18, &c. Dent. 24. 1, &C.
Mat. 5. 31, &x. and Mat. 29. 3, &c. Other
places out of the Epiftles he alfo occafionally
explains; he alleges the Authority of thofe
great Men who favor’d his Opinion, fets
down the determination of the Imperial Laws,
with more proofs that are ufual in fuch cafes.

On

0I1, The Life of John Milton. 59

^WetjDj On this Book our Author himfelf made the
3$ lines.

“Bool,;
Nit, 5
leproacfe;

®w, |
afs tbeirfe
iuafc
Ifi on j |
tmtiutit
thdefeiVd:

is man’*
' fsugfiiodt
Mltioil’di
Fasalfoiij;
m otters,!
caaitoi

Marrif

I did but promt the Age to quit their Clogs
By the known Rules of antient Liberty,
When ftraight a barbarous Noife invirons
me

Of Owls, and Cuckoos, Affes, Apes, and
Dogs:

As when thofe Hinds that were transform’d
to Frogs

Rail’d at Latona’s twinborn Progeny,
Which after held the Sun and Moon in fee.
But this is got by calling pearls to Hogs,

Thatbaul for Freedom in their fenflefs mood,
And ftill revolt when Truth would fet
them free.

Licence they mean,when they cry Liberty;

For who loves that, mull firft be wife and
good: *

But from that mark how far they roave
we fee.

For all this wafte of Wealth and lof^ of
Blood.

24.1, fe
(C. ftfe

wittily

idm

0, lets
alLaws
ch cafe
ft

THE next piece he publifh’d on this Subjeft
was the Judgment of the famous Reformer Mar¬
tin Bucer touching Divorce, extracted out of
the fecond Book of the Kingdom of Christ,
dedicated to King Edward the Sixth. He
exactly agrees with Milton, tho the latter
had not feen this Book till after the publication

of

\

■l

60 The Life of John Milton.

of his own. He alfo fhews very fairly, that
Paulus Fagius the Affociatof Biicer,
that Peter Martyr, Erasmus, and
G r o t i u s, did teach the fame Doftrin, that
he might flop the mouths of fuch as were de¬
termin’d more by thefe Names than by all the
light of Reafon or Scripture; and that he might
not appear to be cal’d an Atheift or Libertin
with more reafon than thefe Perfons, who not-
withftanding they had affirm’d as much as
he, were yet generally counted very fober and
pious.

THE fourth Book he wrote relating to Di¬
vorce was his CoLflerion , being a Reply to one
of his Anfwerers,who, to all the Dulnefs and Ig¬
norance imaginable, added the higheft Bitternefs
and Malice: fo far from tolerably undemand¬
ing any of the Learned Languages (as in fom
fecondhand Quotations he would be thought to
do) that he could not rightly fpell what he fo
meanly Hole. Yet this rude Inve&ive muft be
licens’d by Mr. Carryl, the fame who in his
voluminous and fenflefs Comments did more
injury to the memory of Job, than the Devil
and the Saleans could inflidl Torments on him
in his life time. But, not content to prefix his
Imprimatur , he pronounces his Judgment too
againft Milton, which was a moft unwor¬
thy treatment of him from thefe men, of whom
he deferv’d fo well by his former Writings
againft their Enemies the Bifhops; tho, to
fpeak the truth, this was only a fervice to the

Preshy -

The Life of John Milton. 6 s

Presbyterians by accidentfor, as we fhall fee
hereafter* he never intended by humbling the
Hierarchy, to fet up the Confiftorian Tribunal
in the room of it. However, the following
Reproach was extorted from him by their bafe
Ingratitude. u Mr. Licenfer, fays he, you
“ are reputed a man difcrete enough, religious
‘ £ enough, honeft enough, that is, to an ordi-
“ nary competence in all thefe : But now your
turn is to hear what y our own hand has earn d
« you, that when you fuffer’d this namelefs
“ Hangman to caft into public fuch a fpiteful
“ Conmmely upon a Name and Perfon deferv-
“ ing of the Church and State equally to your
“ felf,and one who has don more to the prefent
advancement of your own Tribe,than you or
“ many of them have don for themfelves; you
“ forgot to be either honeft, religious, or dif-
« Crete. Whatever the State might do con-
“ cerning it, fuppofing it were a matter to ex-
“ pe& evil from it, I fhould not doubt to meet
“ among them with wife, and honorable, and
“ knowing men. But as to this brute Libel,
“ fo much the more impudent and lawlefs for
“ the abus’d Authority which it bears, I fay
“ again, that I abominat the Cenfure of Raf-
« cals and their Licenfers. Thefe are all the
Pieces concerning Divorce written by Milton,
whofe Arguments ought not to be efteem’d the
lefs cogent, becaufe occafion’d by his domeftic
Uneafinefs; when this reafon would equally
enervat the Apologies exhibited for Chrjftianity

under

6 i The Life of John Milton.

under its Perfecutors, and fruftrat all the noble
Treatifes of Civil Government, for which we
are beholding to the Lawlefnefs of Tyrants or
Ufurpers; witnefs the Incomparable and Gold¬
en Difcourfes of that Heroic Patron of Liberty,
Algernon Sidney. And indeed the
bell Books we have on any Subjedt, are fuch
as were oppos’d to the prevalency of the con¬
trary Opinion: for as he that was forc’d to pafs
lorn part of his time in the Regions of extreme
Heat or Cold, can bell value the Bleffings of a
temperat Country ; fo none can be fo well fur-
nifh’d with Arguments for a good Caufe, like
fuch as were Sufferers under a bad one: the
W ritings of unconcern’d and retir’d Perfons be¬
ing either an Exercife of their Parts, and the
Amufements of idle time, or, what is worfe,
pitiful Declamations without any Force, Expe¬
rience, or Vivacity.

ABOUT this time Milton wrote a
fmall piece of Education to Samuel Hart-
lib, looking upon the right Inftitution of
Children to be the Nurfery of all true Liber¬
ty or Virtue; and of whatfoever in Government
is good and wife, or in privat pradlice amiable
and worthy.

THE next Book he wrote was his Jreopa-
gitica , or an Oration to the Parlament of Eng¬
land for the liberty of Unlicens’d Printing ; in
which he proves that the Republics of Greece
and Italy never cenfur’d any but immoral, dif-
famatory, or atheiftical Pieces. Nor was it by

7 be Life of John Milton. 6 \

Inferences and Infinuations they were to judg
of Atheifm; for they never fuppreft the Writ¬
ings of the Epicureans , nor fuch other Books
denying even the Do&rins of Providence, and
the future State: but it muft have bin a formal
doubt or denial of the being of a Deity. Yet
it is beyond contradiction, that thofe Nations
maintain’d an excellent Government, diftri-
buting public and privat Juftice, and abound¬
ing in all Knowlege and Virtue, infinitly above
thofe who have bin ever fince the moll rigid
Purgers, Corrupters, or Executioners of Books.
The Roman Emperors were Tyrants, and none
but fuch as would imitat them, fhould quote
their Examples. The Primitive Chriftians ob-
ferv’d no Uniformity of Conduft in this Af-
3 Mt f a i r . At firft they were for reading all the

mnswol works of the Gentils, but none of thofe they

'Force, E| rec fc 0 n’d Heretical among themfelves; after
this they were only for confuting the Books of
'ON WI * the Heretics, and fupprelfing thofe of the Gen-
in. Hah t n Si even fuch as did not in the leaft concern

Utiitiom Religion: for about the year 400, in a Cartha-

1 trntik gmian Council, the very Bifhops were prohi-
Governmea bi te d the reading of Heathen Authors. Had

fticeamial this infamous and barbarous Refolution bin

throly executed (for it had but too much effeft)
is his>f to what a degree of Ignorance and meannefs of

mtifty Spirit it would have reduc’d the World, de-

priving it of fo many inimitable Hiftorians, O-
0 of Grm rators, Philofophers, and Poets, the Repofito-
imoral, ^ ries of ineftimableTreafure, confifting of war-
orwasitif like

k

64 The Life of John Milton.

like and heroic Deeds, the belt and wifeft Arts
of Government, the moft perfect Rules and
Examples of Eloquence or Politenefs, and fuch
divine Lectures of Wifdom and Virtue, that
the lofs of Ci cero’s Works alone, or thofe
of Livy, could not be repair’d by all the Fa¬
thers of the Church. In procefs of time,
when the Clergy begun to be exalted even a-
bove the fupreme Magiftrat himfelf, they burnt
and destroy’d every thing that did not favor
their Power or Superstition, and laid a restraint
on Reading as well as Writing, without ex¬
cepting the very Bible; and thus they proced-
ed till the Inquisition reduc’d this abominable
practice to the perfedion of an Art by Expur¬
gatory Indexes and Licensing. All the confe-
quences of this Tyranny, as depriving men of
their natural Liberty, Rifling their Parts, in¬
troducing of Ignorance, ingrofling all Advan¬
tages to one Party, and the like, were perpetu¬
ally objeded before the Civil Wars by the Pref
byterinns to the Bifhops , but no fooner were
they poileft of the Bifhops Puipits and Power,
than they exercis’d the fame Authority with
more intolerable Rigor and Severity. Mil-
ton, after Shewing the Origin, Progrefs, and
Mifchief of this Cuftom, proves Aril that we
muft not read the Bible, the Fathers, nor al¬
most any fort of Books, if we regard the Rea¬
sons ufually alleg’d to forbid the publishing of
others, fuch as the fear of wrefting of mistak¬
ing their meaning. Secondly,’ that the ends

Ml

& Rules u
'Mfe
■ Virtue,!
lone, or|
M tfael
«& of i
saWem,
elf, tbeyh
did notk
laid a refit
, without*
is they pin
lis abooiii
IrtbyEif
All the®
iriving®
eir Farts, i
ig all Ads
rapqtt
•s by theft
fm it
:andPont
iority wit
:y, Mit
ogrefs, afi
irlttbw

err, iff af
rdiieRea;

lingo
or mifti
: the fflb

The Life of John Milton.

propos’d cannot be , attain’d after this manner*
And, Thirdly, that no man is fit to be a Li-
cenfer, not in any one fingle Faculty, unlefs he
is univerfally learn’d, or a better Scholar than
all the Authors whofe Labors he’s to licenfe:
and that, granting thefe things poffible (tho
they are not fo) he could neitner find ftrength
nor time enough for perilling all Books; and
fhould he ufe Deputies, he’s likelieil to have
ignorant, lazy, and mercenary Fellows. Then
difplaying the Difcouragement that mull: follow
hence to all Literature and new Difcoveries
(with the danger of fuppreffing Truth, and
propagating Error, as it happens in Popifh
Countries, and the not reprinting of antient
Authors in any Language) he proves Licenfing
to be both unjuft in it feif, and difhonorable
to a free Government. “ To include the whole
“ Nation, fays he, and thofe that never yet
“ thus offended, under fuch a diffident and
“ fufpe&ful Prohibition, what a difparagement
“ it is may be plainly underftood. So much
“ the more, fince Debtors and Delinquents
“ may walk abroad without a Keeper ,
“ but inofrenfive Books muff not ffir forth
u without a vifible Jailor in their Title. Nor
“ is it to the common People lefs than a Re-
“ proach ; lor if we be fo jealous over them,
“ as that we dare not trull them with an Eng-
“ ///£ Pamphlet, what do we butcenfurethern
“ for a giddy, vitious, and ungrounded Peo-
“ pie, in fuch a fick and weak Hate of Faith and

E " Dif*

66 7 he Life of John Milton.

“ Difcretion, as to be able to take nothing but
“ thro the Gliflerpipe of a Licenfer? That
u this is any care or love of them, we cannot
“ pretend, fince in thofe Popijb Places, where
u the Laity are moft hated and defpis’d, the
fame flriftnefs is us’d over them. Wif-
“ dom we cannot call it, becaufe it flops but
“ one breach of Licenfe; nor that neither, fee-
“ ing thofe Corruptions, which it Peeks to pre-
“ vent, break in fafler at other doors which
“ cannot be fhut. And it reflects on the Re-
“ putation of our Miniflers alfo, of whofeLa-
“ bors we fhould hope better, and of the Profi-
“ ciency which their Flocks reap by them, than
“ that after all this Light of the Gofpel which
“ is, and is to be, and after all this continual
u Preaching, they fhould be flill frequented
“ with fuch an unprincipled, unedify’d, and
u Laic Rabble, as that the whif of every new
“ Pamphlet fhould flagger them out of their
“ Catechifm. This may have much reafon to
“ difcourage the Miniflers, when fuch a low
“ conceit is had of all their Exhortations and
“ the benefiting of their Plearers, that they are
‘‘ not thought fit to be turn’d loofe to three
“ Sheets of Paper without a Licenfer. In a-
nother place he fays, “ A man may be a
“ Heretic in the Truth: and if he believes
u only becaufe his Pallor fays fo, or the Af-
“ fembly fo determins, without knowing any
“ other Reafon ; tho his Belief be true, yet
u the very Truth he holds becoms his Herefy.

“There

i'llfit
• gladli

l d'

l! nott

“pifi

«ioli

“gion

"lee

“con
l( gioi

11 nf

“Re
“col
“of
“ ci;

“ffl

“ma

*wi

k ab

“as

‘Hi

“S
«,

r 'Tbe Life of John Milcon. 67

« There is not any burden that fom would
(t gladlier put off to another, than the charge
“ and care of their Religion. Who knows
“ not that there be fom Proteflants who live
u in as arrant an implicit Faith as any Lay-Pa,-
< ( pift of Loretto ? A wealthy man, addi&ed
(i to his Pleafures and his Profit, finds Reli-
“ gion to be a Traffic fo intangl’d, and of fo
“ many pidling accounts, that of all Myfteries
“ he cannot indure to keep a flock going upon
“ that trade. What dos he therfore, but re-
“ folves to give over toiling, and to find out
“ fom Fa£lor to whofecare and credit he may
“ commit the whole management of his reli-
gious Affairs; and that muff be fom Divine
“ of Note and Eftimation. To him he ad-
“ heres, refigns the whole Warehoufe of his
“ Religion with all the Locks and Keys into his;
“ cuftody ; and indeed makes the very Perfon
ic of that Man his Religion, efteems his affo-
“ ciating with him a fufficient evidence and
“ commendation of his own Piety. So that a
u man may fay his Religion is now no more
“ within himfelf, but is becom a dividual mov-
<c able, and gos and corns near him according
“ as that good man frequents the Houfe.
i( He entertains him, gives him Gifts, feafts
" him, lodges him; his Religion corns home
“ at night, prays, is liberally fup’d, and
“ fumtuoufly laid afleep; rifes, is faluted,
“ and (after the Malmfy, or fom well fpic’d
(( Brewage, and better breakfafled than he

E 2 - whofe

63 The Life of John Milton.

* 6 wliofe Morning-appetit would have gladly
‘‘ fed on green Figs between Bethany and Je-
1 ‘ rufalem ) his Religion walks abroad at eight,
‘‘ and leaves his kind Entertainer in the Shop
te trading all day without his Religion. Ano-
i ther fort there be, who, when they hear
ic that all things fhall be order'd, all things re-
*• gulated and fetled, nothing written but what
* paffes thro the Cuftomhoufe of certain Pub-
licans that have the tunnaging and poundag-
t£ ing of all freefpoken Truth, will ftraight
c give themfelves up into your hands, make
k ’em and cut ’em out what Religion you
pleafe ; there be Delights, there be Recrea-
4 tions, and jolly Pafiimes that will fetch the
‘‘ day about from Sun to Sun, and rock the te-
dious year as in a delightful dream. What
<£ need they torture their heads with that which
others have taken fo ftriftly and fo unalter-
‘ c ably into their own purveying? Thefe are
‘‘ the Fruits which a dull Eafe and Celfation of
€ ‘ our Knowlege will bring forth among the
‘‘ People. Nor much better will be the confe-
<e quence among the Clergy themfelves. It is
ie no new thing never heard of before for a
il Parochial Minifter, who has his Reward,
and is at his H e r c u l e s Pillars in a warm
(( Benefice, to be eafily inclinable (if he has
“ nothing elfe that may roufe up his Studies)
to finifii hisjCircuit in an Englijh Concor-
<c dance, and a Topic Folio, the Gatherings
“ and Sayings of a fober Graduatfhip, a Har-

‘‘mony

r in thel

%ion. k

r hands, e

up

:reklc
will fell
id rod it:
ream, 1
idithti
tidfoul
!? TWt:

bethrn
fe i

as Rot
■sin art

The Life of John Milton. 69

“ mony and a Catena, treading the conftan*
u round of certain common doctrinal Heads?
“ attended with their Ufes, Motives, Marks,
“ and Means; out of which, as out of an Al-
“ phabetoryt>/ fa mi,l by forming and transform-
“ ing, joining and disjoining varioufly a little
“ Bookcraft, and two hours Meditation, lie
might furnifh himfelf unfpeakably to the
performance of more than a weekly charge
of Sermoning ; not to reckon up the infinit
helps of Interlinearies, Breviaries, Synopfes,
and other loitering gear. But, as for the mul¬
titude of Sermons already printed on every
Text that is not difficult, he need never fear
penury of Pulpit Provifion; yet if his Rear
and Flanks be not impal’d, if his backdoor
be not fecur’d by the rigid Licenfer, but that
a bold Book may now and then illue forth
“ and give the alTault to fom of his old Col-
“ leftions in their trenches, it will concern
“ him to keep waking, to ffand in watch, to
c< fet good Guards and Sentinels about his re¬
ceiv’d Opinions, to walk the round and coun-
“ terround with his Fellow-Infpe£fors, fearing
u left any of his Flock be feduc’d, who alfo
“ then would be better inftruffed, better exer-
ci cis’d and difeiplin’d. And God fend that
“ the fear of this Diligence, which muft then
be us’d, do not make us affeft the lazinefs

<■<> n ItppnflnOr f'hnrrll Slirh W3Q flip p|Tp/1*

year Mabol, a Licenfer, offer’d R.eafons z-

E 3 gainft

<4

a

a

a

1

1

7o Tbe Life of John Milton.

gainft Licenfing ; and, at his own requeft, was
difcharg’d that Office. And certainly there’s
nothing deferves more wonder, than that any
■wife People fhould fuffer a fmall number of in¬
judicious Fellows, always ready to fupprefs
whatever is not relifb’d by their own SeCt or
the Magiftrat, to he the foie Mailers and Judg¬
es of what fhould or fhould not be printed;
that is, of what the Nation is to know, fpeak,
orunderlland : and I need not hefitat to affirm
that fuch a Power in the hands of any Prince
(theLicenfers being always his Creatures) is
more dangerous even than a Handing Army to
Civil Liberty ; nor in point of Religion is it
inferior to the Inquifition.

BUT to return to his privat Affairs, left he
’might feem by his feveral Treatifes of Divorce
not to a£l from an intire Conviction, but out
of fudden Refentment, or to fhew his Parts
in maintaining a Paradox, he was ferioully
treating a Marriage with a young Lady of
great Wit and Beauty, when one day as he
was at a Relations houfe whom he often vifited,
he was extremely furpriz’d to find his Wife
(whom he thought never to have feen more)
acknowleging her fault at his feet, and beg¬
ging Forgivenefs with tears. At firft he feem’d
inexorable, but his own Generofity, and the
interceffion of Friends, foon procur’d a perfect
Reconciliation, with an aft of Oblivion for all
that was paft. The firft fruit of her return
Was a Girl, born Within a year after ; And fo far

was

'T'U
Mainly ^

numberoft

; ir own Se^
■ftersandj

wtfce air

pril;

KingAni

Affiiis,ld
fcofDiit
Sion, hii
h tel
wasfw

indhisf
:fe

et,i

it)' ma

Tk Li/e 0/ John Milton. 71

was he from remembiring former Provocations*
that the Kings Intereft in every place vifibly de¬
clining, he receiv’d his Wives Father and Mc-
ther, feveral of her Sifters and Brothers into
his own Houfe, where they had Protection
and free Entertainment till their Affairs were
in a better condition. And now both his own
Father dying, and his Wives Relations return¬
ing to their feveral Habitations, he reviv’d his
Academic Inftitution of fom young Gentle¬
men, with a defign, perhaps, of putting in prac¬
tice the model of Education lately publifh’d by
himfelf. Yet this courfe was of no long continu¬
ance ; for he was to be made Adjutant General
to SirWiLUAM Waller, but that the
new modelling of the Army foon following,
and Sir William turning cat in pan, this
defign was fruftrated.

A LI T T L E after Fairfax and C r om-
w e l had march’d thro the City with the whole
Army to quell the InfurreCtion of Brown
and Massy, now grown difeontented like-
wife with the Parlament, our Author chang’d
his great Houfe for one more accommodated to
his Circumftances, where in the midft of all
the noife and confufion of Arms, he led a quiet
and privat Life, wholly delighted with the Mu-
fes, and profecuting his indefatigable fearch
after tifeful and folid Knowlene.

HAVING occalionally mention'd tnat
Great man General Fairfax, I fhall fubjoin
here, becaufe it is not printed among his other

E 4 Pc-

\ .""." •• X

72 The Life of John Milton.
Poems, a Sonnet our Author fent him.

Fairfax, whofe Name in Arms thro Europe
Tings,

And fills all mouths with Envy or with Praife,
And all her jealous Monarchs with Amaze,
And Rumors loud which daunt remoteft
things:

Thy firm unfhaken Valor ever brings
Vidory home, while new Rebellions raife
Their Hydra Heads, and the falfe North dis¬
plays

Her broken League to imp her Serpent Wings.
O yet a nobler task awaits thy Hand :

For what can War but Ads of War ftill
breed.

Till injur’d Truth from VioIence.be freed,
And public Faith be refcu’d from the brand
Of public Fraud ? In vain dos Valor bleed,
While Avarice and Rapine fhare the Land.

The

Mi

Hid)

Th

Ad

B 1

MSI

1 fa'
tkf
1D1
Min

The following lines, never likewife publifh’d
among his Poems, he wrote to Sir H e n r y
Vane the Younger.

Vane, young in years, but in fage Counfils
old,

Than whom a better Senator ne’er held
The Helm of Rome (when Gowns, not Arms
repel’d

The fierce Eprot , and the African bold)

Whether

Kin;

the

eitk

tot

hip

that

car

Qe

>P

0

The Life of John Milton. 73

Whether to fettle Peace, or to unfold

The drift of hollow States hard to be fpePd.
Then, to advife how War may belt b’upheld,
Man’d by her two main Nerves, Iron and
Gold,

In all her Equipage: Befides to know
Both fpiritual and civil, what each means,
What ferveseach thou haft learn’d, which
few have don.

The bounds of either Sword to thee we ow ;
Therforeonthy right hand Religion leans,
And reckons thee in chief her eldeft Son.

BUT after Charles the Firft (fomtime
before judg’d an Enemy by the Parlament)
was made a Prifoner by their victorious Army,
afterwards judicially try’d and condemn’d, and
the form of the Government was chang’d into
a Democracy or Free State, the Presbyterian
Minifters, who from the beginning were the
King’s mortal Enemies, but now inrag’d that
the Independents and other SeCts fhould enjoy
either Liberty or Life (not angry at the FaCfc
but the FaCtion) did tragically declame in their
Pulpits, that the King’s Ufage was very hard,
that his Perfon was facred and inviolable, and
that any violence offer’d to him in the field
(much lefs by the hands of an Executioner) was
contrary to the DoCtrin of the Reform’d
Churches. This oblig’d Milton in the
year 49 to write his Tenure of Kjngs and Ma-
giftrats, wherin he labors to prove that it is not

74 T 7 ;e L//e o/~ JohnMikon.

only in it felf a moft equitable thing, but that
it has alfo bin fo efteem’d by the free and confi-
dering part of Mankind in all ages, that fuch
as had the Power might call a Tyrant to ac¬
count for his Maladminiftration, and after due
Convi&ion to depofe or put him to death, ac¬
cording to the nature of his Crimes : And fur¬
ther fhews,that if the ordinary Magiftratsofany
Nation refufe to do ’em this Juftice, that then
the duty of Selfprefervation, and the good of the
whole (which is the fupreme Law) impowers
the People to deliver themfelves from Slavery
by the fafeft and moft effectual methods they
can. As for the Presbyterians y who were then
grown fo tender of Majefty (and that only be-
caufe they could not, abfolutely and exclufive-
Iy of others, govern all mens Perfons and Con-
fciences) he evidently fhews that they were
the moft zealous to take arms againft the King,
to deveft and difanoint him of his Dignity, nay
to curfe him in all their Sermons and Pamphlets
over the Kingdom (wherof there remain nu¬
merous Monuments ftill to be produc’d) that,
in a word, after they had join’d with others to
a degree from which Men of Honor or Pru¬
dence could not retreat, they were louder than
the Cavaliers themfelves to cry Difloyalty and
Trealon. After proving at large that they
broke their Allegiance to him, obey’d another
Authority, and had often given Commiftion to
Hay where they knew his Perfon could not be
exemt from danger; and where, if chance or

flight

P

ttelte

tblci

fell®

in me
unfa
tafiil

p

term

fir

i\

“iir
* ve
“tli
“tl
"fi

“31
11 «
‘ef|
11 a'

■‘4

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“fi

(i,

The Life of John Milton. 75

flight had not fav’d him like others, he muff be
infallibly kil’d, he lhews how ridiculoully it
became them to pretend a tendernefs for his Per-
fon or Character; wheras indeed it was neither
Perfuafion nor Remorfe, but their averfion to
civil and religious Liberty that hurry’d ’em to
thefe extremes. But becaufe I hope the bulk of
thofe now cal’d Presbyterians in England, fcm
few leading Men excepted, are no fuch Ene¬
mies to a Toleration, and that they underftand
no more of the Conliftorian, Claffical, or Sy¬
nodical Judicatories, than they allow of the
Inquifition or Hierarchy, I fhall in this place, to
difabufe ’em, and to let ’em fee how much bet¬
ter others forefaw their Fate than Paffion would
fuffer themfelves at that time, infert the follow¬
ing palfage. “ As for the Party cal’d Presby-
“ terian , fays Milton, of whom I believe
<£ very many to be good-and faithful Chriftians,
“ tho milled by fom of turbulent Spirit, I wifh
“ them earneltly and calmly not to fall off
“ from their firft Principles, nor to affaffc Rigor
“ and Superiority over Men not under them ;
<e not to compel unforcible things in Religion
tc efpecially, which if not voluntary, becoms
“ a Sin; nor to affift the clamor and malicious
“ drifts of thofe whom they themfelves have
“ judg’d to be the worft of Men, the obdurat
£ ‘ Enemies of God and his Church ; nor to dart
“ againft the Aflions of their Brethren, for
“ want of other Argument, thofe wrefted
‘‘ Laws and Scriptures thrown by Prelats

“ and

7& The Life of John Milton.

u and Malignants againft their own Tides,
“ which tho they hurt not other wife, yet taken
“ up by them to the condemnation of their
“ own doings, give fcandal to all Men, and
“ difcover in themfelves either extreme Paffion
“ or Apoftacy. Let them not oppofe their bed:
“ Friends and Aflociats who moleft ’em not at
“ all, infringe not the lead: of their Liberties,
“ unlefs they call it. their Liberty to bind other
<£ Mens Confciences, but are ftill feeking to live
“ at peace witii them, and brotherly Accord.
“ Let them beware an old and perfeft Enemy,
“ who tho he hopes by lowing Difcord to make
<c them his Inftruments, yet cannot forbear
“ a minute the open threatning of his deftin’d
“ Revenge upon them, when they have ferv’d
“ his purpofes. Let them fear, therfore, if
“ they be wife, rather what they have don al-
“ ready, than what remains to do ; and be
“ warn’d in time that they put no confidence
u in Princes whom they have provok’d, left
u they be added to the Examples of thofe that

“ miferably have tafted of the event.--I

“ have fomthing alfo to the Divines, tho brief
“ to what were needful, not to be Difturbers
“ of the Civil Affairs, being in hands better
“ able, and to whom it more belongs to ma- •
“ nage them ; but to ftudy harder, and to at-
tC tend the Office of good Paftors, not per-
<c form’d by mounting twice into the Chair
u with a formal Preachment huddled up at the
a odd hours of a whole lazy week, but by in-

“ ceflant

.

The Life of John Milton, 77

u cefiant pains and watching-which if they

“ well confider’d, how little leifure would
a they find to be the moft pragmatical Sidef-
a men of every popular Tumult and Sedition?
“ And all this while they are to learn what the
“ true end and reafbn is of the Gofpel which
“ they teach, and what a world it differs from
“ the cenforious and fupercilious lording over
“ Confcience. It would be good alfo they
■ ic liv’d fo as might perfuade the People they
“ hated Covetoulnefs, which, worfe than He-
“ refy, is Idolatry ; hated Pluralities and all
“ kind of Simony ; left rambling from Bene-
“ fice to Benefice, like ravenous Wolves feek-
“ ing where they may devour the biggeft.
“ Let them be forry that, being cal’d to affem-
u ble about reforming the Church, they fell to
u progging and folliciting the Parlament (tho
“ they had renounc’d the name of Prieffs) for
“ a new fettling of their Tithes and Oblations,
tc and doublelin’d themfelves with fpiritual
u places of Commodity beyond the poffibledif-
“ charge of their Duty. Let them affemble in
u Confiftory with their Elders and Deacons to
<c the preferving of Church-Difciplin each in his
“ feveral charge, and not a pack of Clergymen
“ by themfelves to bellychear in their prefumtu-
i( ous Sion\ or to promote defigns to abufe and
“ gull the fimple Laity, to ftir up Tumults, as
“ the Prelats did before them, for the mainte-
“ nance of their Pride and Avarice. On thisocca-
fion I muff remark, that by reafon of the Presbyte¬
rians

7 8 The JJfe of John Milton.

runs warmly joining with others the laft Parla-
ment to promote Penal Laws againft the Socini-
am, I find lew People will believe that thofe in
England differ from their Brethren in Scotland
about Perfection, nor that their own Sufferings
or late have made ’em more tender to the
Confidences of others. This naturally leads
men to think that they have not repented of
their Rigor in the Civil Wars; and that fhould
tne Diffenters once more get the Secular Sword
into their hands, they would prefis Uniformity
of Sentiments in Religion as far as any other
Proteffants or Papifts ever yet have don: wit-
nefis their inhuman Treatment of Daniel
Williams (a fober man and a judicious Di¬
vine) for no caufe that I can difcern, but that
he made Chriftianity plainer than lorn of his
Collegues in the Miniftry, and that, it may be,
he takes a greater latitude than fuch as thro their
ignorance cannot, or will not from defign. But
what renders them moft fufpeaed of affefting
Dominion, is theProjeft of a Comprehenfion
now on foot, wherof fom men of figure among
’em fieem to be fio fond, wherby the reft
are eafily deceiv’d, and like to be left in the
lurch by certain Perfons who for feveral years
paft made the Hierarchy and Liturgy fuch
Arrange bugbears : tho if the Church will
Pieafe to becom a kind Mother to themfelves,
and lliew a little complaifance for their old
Friends, they are ready to pronounce her Or¬
ders, her Prayers, and her Ceremonies to be

very

mj'iiii

Itnfori

Stinbo

W
be, ft
forlf
Combi
I lilies,
I Force,
famen
Naur
claim
Tfco

pee

fair

noth

orFov

AF

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j

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j ncrei

7 be Life of Jolin Milton. 79

very innocent and harmlefs things; but mifta-
ken formerly for the Pillars of Antichrift, the
Symbols of Idolatry, the Dregs of Popery, the
Rags of Superftition, and Proteftant Paint to
hide the Deformities of the old Babji/omJb
Whore. And after all, whatever ours may
be, Comprehenfion in all other places of the
World has never bin any thing elfe but the
Combination of a few Parties to fortify them-
felves, and to opprefs all others by their united
Force, or by an abfolute Exclufion from Pre¬
ferment and other Advantages to which by
Nature or perfonal Merit they had an equal
claim with the reft of their Fellow Citizens.
Tho to be perlecuted in their turn is the juft
Judgment of God upon Perfecutors, yet Ven¬
geance muft be left to Heaven : and the Wifhes
of all good Men are, that the National Church,
being fecur’d in her Worfhip and Emoluments,
may not be allow’d to force others to her Com¬
munion ; and that all Dilfenters from it, being
fecur’d in their Liberty of Confcience, may
not be permitted to meddle with the Riches
or Power of the National Church,

AFTER thefe things our Author thinking
to have leifure enough for fuch an undertaking,
apply’d himfelf intirely to the Hiftory of the
Englijh Nation, which he intended from the re-
moteft traditional beginning to continue down
to his dwn time, and had already finifh’d
four Books of the fame, when neither courting
por expecting any fuch Preferment, he was ta-

So The Life of John Milton.

ken into the Service of the New Common¬
wealth. Hitherto he gratuitoufly lent his
Country the aid of his Pen, content with the
elieem ot good Men, and the internal Satif-
fadlion of having perform’d his Duty; while
others that deferv’d it not fo well, were vari-
oufly rewarded, fom with Riches, fom with
Honors, and all with Liberty. But the Pub f
lication of the Tenure of Kjngs and Magijlrats
reviving the fame of his other Books, and as
well (hewing the Excellency of his Stile and
Capacity, as his Affe&ion to the good old
Caufe, he was made Secretary to the Council
of State for all foren Affairs: for the Republic
fcorn d to acknowlege that fort of Tribute to
any Prince in the World, which is now paid to
the French King, of managing their Matters
only in his Language ; and took up a noble
Refolution, to which they firmly adher’d, that
they would neither write to others, nor receive
their Anlwers, except in the Latin Tongue, as
being common to them all, and the propereft
in it felf to contain great things, or the Subjeft
of future Pens. But this Proceding could not
be acceptable to thofe whofe Tranfaftions
were afham’d or afraid to fee the light, and
whofe Names will not be tranfmitted to Pofte-
i ity, unlefs for dextroufly cheating their own
People, and laying the Springs of their Tyran¬
ny or Negleft in the dark, tho the Eftefts are
fufnciently felt by their deluded Subjects, and
the Injufiice vifibly expos’d to all difcerning eys.

None

. The Life of John Milton. 81

4, r ^ one could be found more fitted for fuch a Poft

t ; JJ- than Milton, who quickly gain’d no lefs
; J ■ Reputation to himfelf than Credit to the State
, that im ploy’d fo able a Perfon. Of this the Let-
,, t: ters he wrote under that and the fucceding Ad-
' ! :iI miniftrations (for he ferv’d Oliver, R r _

chard, and the Rump) are abundant evi¬
dence, being for different Reafons admir’d by
¥ Critics and Statefmen, as they are certain and
^ authentic Materials for fuch as may hereafter
; Mst; write the Hiffory of thofe times.

® Ni BUT it was not only in foren Difpatches that
wtK&t the Government made ufe of his Pen ; for juft

ftkRtpi after the King’s Death appear’d a Book under

of Trite his Name, intitul’d Eikon Baji/ike, ivherin he
isiwpii tindicats himfelf in fo many diftind Chap¬
ter it ters from the chief Heads of thofe Tyrannies
bpai charg’d upon him by the People, either as oc-
ukripj cafions of the Civil War, or as Inhumanities

5, !OT committed during the fame. This piece, like

Cesar’s laft Will, doing more execution
rkpropj! upon the Enemy than its-Author when alive
•r!Wi Milt o n was commanded to prevent by an

?could! Anfwer thofe ill effeds the Eikon Baf/ike might

fanfaffii produce. Having undertaken this task, he ol>
light i ferves that Kings indeed have gain’d glorious
edtoMf Titles from their Flatterers or Favorers lor wri-
ukfOM tin g againft privat men, as our Henry the
Eighth was ftil’d Defender of the Faith for in-
.gkt gaging Luther; yet that no man can exped
j*&, g Hfuch Honor by writing againft a King, as not
ulual] y meeting with that force of Argument
i\i* E in

u

a

ic

<C

81 The Life of John Milton.

in fuch courtly Antagonifts, which to confute
might add to his fame. “ Kings, fays he,
tho ftrong in Legions, are moft commonly
but weak at Arguments; as they who e-
“ ver . have accuftom’d from the Cradle to ufe
‘‘ their Will only as their right hand, their
Pveafon always as their left: whence unex-
“ peftedly conftrain’d to that kind of Combat
“ th «y prove but weak and puny Adverfaries!
“ Neverthelefs, continues he, for their fakes'
u w ho thro Cuftom, Simplicity, or want of bet¬
ter teaching have not more ferioufly con¬
fided Kings than in the gaudy name of Ma¬
jesty* and admire them and their doings, as if
they breath’d not the fame Breath with other
mortal men, I fhall make no fcruple to take up
this Gauntlet, tho a Kings, in the behalf of Li-
berty and the Commonwealth. Having thus
accepted the Challenge, he fairly meafures Wea¬
pons,and anfwers all the Allegations of that Book
beyond the poffibility of a Reply. But every
Chapter of it ending with Devotion, model’d
into the form of a privat Pfalter, he once for all
gives his judgment of it in thefe words. “ They,
“ who . fo much admire the Archbifbops late
Bieviary, and many other as good Manuals
and Handmaids of Devotion, the Lipwork
“ °f every prelatical Liturgift, clapt this to¬
gether, and quilted it out of Scripture Phrafe,
“ with as much eafe, and as little need of Chri-
ltian Diligence or Judgment, as belongs to
the compiling of any ordinary and falable

u piece

U

a

iii

The Life of John Milton.’ 85

U piece of Englijb Divinity that the Shops va-
a f ue . But he who from fuch a kind ot Pfal-
« miftry, or any other verbal Devotion, with-
« out the pledg and earneft of futable Deeds,

« can be perfuaded of a Zeal and true Righ-
teoufnefs in the Perfon, has much yet to
learn; and knows not that the deepeft Policy
of a Tyrant has bin ever to counterfeit Reli¬
gion : and A r 1 s t ot l e in his Politics has
« mention’d that fpecial Craft among twelve
« other tyrannical Sophifms. Neither want
« we Examples. AndrOnicus Com-
u nenus the By tint in Emperor, tho a molt
« cruel Tyrant, is reported by Nicetas

“ to have bin aconftant Reader of St. P a u l s

« Epiftles ; and by continual Study had fo in-
“ corporated the Phrafe and Stile of that A-
« poftle into all his familiar Letters, that the
u Imitation feem’d to vy with the OiigmaL
Then having inftanced our Richard the
Third, to whom he might have added I a r-
n u I n who built the (lately Temple of Ju p i-

Ter Capitolinus, and the Ruffian

Basilowitz that pray’d feveri times a day,,
he difcovers a piece of Royal Plagiarism, or
(to be more charitable) of his Chaplains 1 1 *eu>
craft; for one of King Ch a r t e.s’s Prayers,
(fil’d a Prayer in the time of Captivity , deliver cl
by himfelf to Dr. Juxon, and twice printed a,
mong his Works in Folio, is plainly ftolen and
taken without any conliderable variation rrom
the mouth of Pamel a, ani imaginary Lady,

Ff to

X

84 The Life of John Milton.

to a Heathen Deity in Sir Ph i lip Sid¬
ney’ s Arcadia, This has bin mention’d by-
others after Milton, and thofe Prayers laid
parallel together on divers occafions. One of
Milton’s Sagacity could not but perceive
by the Compofition, Stile, and timing of this
Book, that it was rather the produftion of fom
idle Clergyman, than the work of a diftreft
Prince, either in perpetual hurry at the head of
a flying Army, or remov’d from onePrifonto
another during his unfortunat Captivity till his
Death. Befides the Theological Phrafes fre¬
quently interfpers’d, there are fuch fanciful Al-
lufionsand bold Comments in it upon the fecret
Judgments of God, as fmell rankly of a Syftem
or the Pulpit. When he mentions the fate of
the Hothams, by whom he was repuls’d at
Hull, he fays of the Father, That his Head was
divided from bis Body , becaufe his Heart was di¬
vided from the Kjng : and that two Heads were
cut off in one Family for affronting the Head of
the Commonwealth ; the eldefi Son being inf efted
with theS-in of the Father , againjl the Father of
his Country. Thefe and fuch Arguments drawn
only from the Book it felf, without any further
light, induc’d a great many at that time to fuf-
peft the fmpofture ; and that becaufe C r 0 m-
wel got fuch a Reputation among the Peo¬
ple for his fuppos’d Piety, the Royalifts would
reprelent the King to be a wifer Man and bet¬
ter Chriftian. Butin the year 1686 Mr. Mi l-
l 1 ngton happening to fell the late Lord

Angle-

low

Akl

ton,

Juifj,] TIjeLifeof John Milton. 8y

® r ®!i Anglesey’s Library by Auftion, put up
e ^J*l an Eikon Bafilike ; and a few bidding very low
®' 0 ®! for it, he had Ieifure to turn over the Leaves,
1 when to his great Surprize he perceiv’d written
with the fame noble Lords own hand, thefol-
uttioiirf (» lowing Memorandum .

: ofadifet "•

JfJ.T'LG Charles the Second , and
the Duke of York, did both (in the lajl
Sejfons of Bar lament, \ 6 yy when /
fiew’d them in the Lords Houfe the
mitten Copy of this 'Booh, wherin are
fom Corrections and Alterations written
with the late f\ing Charles the
FirJl's own hand) a (fare me , that this
was none of the faid CQng’s compiling ,
but made by Dr, Gauden Bifhop
of Exeter : which I here infert for
the undeceiving of others in this point ,
by attejlmg fo much under my own hand.

ifeCto*-

Anglesey.

IlffoelJ This occafion’d the World to talk; and feve-
pdbet ral knowing the Relation which the late Dr.
| r Ju AnthonyWalker an EJfex Divine had
| aK I jtj to Bifhop Gauden, they inquir’d of him
what he knew concerning this Subje£t, which

F 3 he

86 The Life of John Milton.

he then verbally communicated to them: but
being afterwards highly provok’d by Dr. Hol-
likgworth’s harfh and injurious Reflections,
he was oblig’d in his own defence to print an ac¬
count of that Book, wherin are fufficient An-
fwers to all the Scruples or Objections that can
be made, and wherof I here infert an exaCt E-
pitome. He tells us in the firft place that Dr.
G auden was pleas’d to acquaint him with
the whole defign, and fhew’d him the Heads of
divers Chapters,^, with fom others that were
quite fjnifh’d : and that Dr. Gauden asking
his opinion of the thing, and he declaring his
DiflatisfaCtion thatahe World fhould be fo im¬
pos’d upon, GauAen bid him look on the
Title, which was the King's Portraiture; for
that no man is hippos’d to draw his own Picture.
A very nice Evafion ! He further acquaints us,
that fom timp after this being both in London ,
and having din’d together, Dp. G a u d e n took
him along with him to Dr. D u p p a the Bilhop
of Salisbury (whom he made alfo privy to his
defign) to fetch what Papers he had left before
for his perufal, or to fhew him what he had
hnce written : and that upon their return from
that place, after Gauden and Duppa were
a while in privat together, the former told
him the Bilhop of Salisbury wifh’d he had
thought upon two other Heads, the Ordinance
againft the Common Prayer Book, and the de¬
nying his Majefty the attendence of his Chap¬
lains ; but that Dup p a defir’d him to finifh the
. ! ‘T lHH : - ■•■reft.

tt*

papte

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^ The Life of John Milton. 87

N*:|| re ft and he would take upon him to write two
Wo; Chapters on thofe Subjects, which accordingly
h e did. Thereafon, itfeems, why Dr. Gau-
t0 PHii den himfelf would not perform this, was,
firft, that during the Troubles he had forborn
arstk E t he ufe of the Liturgy, which he did not ex-
# *«ii traordinarily admire; and Secondly, that he
ffabl had never bin the King’s Chaplain, wheras
ailni Dr. Du p p a. was both his Chaplain, his Tu-
mfleWr tor, and a Bilhop, which made him more con-
btb cern’d about thefe Particulars. Thirdly, Dr.
iiDiNsli' Walker informs us that Dr. Gauden
edechii*! told him he had fent a Copy of Eikon Baft like
Uiki: by the Marquifs of Hartford to the King in the
n-lodm lie of Wight; where it was, we may be fure,
atriiim;: that he made thofe Corrections and Alterati-
iovi ons with his own Pen, mention’d in my Lord
najiM: Anglesey’s Memorandum: and which

oth mis gave occalion to fom then about him that had
(Aim® accidentally feen, or to whom he had fhown
the Book, to believe the whole was his own.
foprim Fourthly, Dr. Gauden, after the Reftora-

Wlit tioh, told Dr. Walker, that the Duke of

ifebi York knew of his being the real Author,
rretumb and had own’d it to be a great fervice ; in con-
) Wl i fideration of which, it may be, the Bifhop-
rick of Winehefier , tho he was afterwards put
llfelj off with that of Worcefler, was promis’d him.
j^inai And, notwithftanding it was then a Secret, we
ailtlei now know that in expectation of this Tranfla-
!f tion, the great Houfe on Clapham Common was
built indeed in the name of his Brother Sir D e-
f F 4 * lS &

o§ The*Life of John Milton.

£•}£ hut ^}}y to be a Manfionhoufe for the
Bifhops of Wmchefter. Fifthly, Dr. Wal¬
ker fays, that Mr. Gauden, the Doftor’s
Son, his Wife, himfeJf, and Mr. Gifford
whorunfctib’d it did believe it as firmlj^
ny fad don in the place where they were;

ft «i‘ latIn i tha r? amily they aIwa >’s fpokeof
it among themfelves (whether in Dr. Gau-

wfiLn h re i fe - nCe °!' . a , b! , bnce ) as undoubtedly
ttrSn him, which he never contradickd.

f fr [ f ’ Slxth . Iy > that Dr. G a u d e n, after
pai t of it was pnnted, gave to Dr. Walker
yitn his own hand what was Iaft Pent to Lon*
don , ail d a .ter fhewing him what it was, feal’d
it, giving him cautionary Direftions how to
e iver ir which he did on Saturday the 2 ]d
of December 16 $. for Mr. Roys ton the
nntei to Mr. Peacock Brother to Dr,
G a u d e n s Steward, who, after the Impref-

fif Rnnf , gaVC him; for his rouble,

fix Books, wherof he always kept one by him

To thefe particulars Dr. Walker adds

t iat the Reafon why the Covenant is more fa¬
vorably mention’d in Eikon Bafihke, than the

beTcaufe Dr ° f hlS ?* rty WouId do > was
beecaufe Di . G a u den himfelf had taken it :

1 hat in the devotional part of this Book there
occur leveral Expreffions which were habitual
0 Di . Gauden in his Prayers, which al¬
ways in privat and public were conceiv’d or
extemporary : and that to his knowlege it was
Dr. Gauden, being bell acquainted with the

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- : ---—.

The Life of John Miltotn 89

Beauty of his own Sayings, who made that
Collection of Sentences out of Eikon Bafilike ,
intitul’d, Apopbtbegmata Caroliniana. Thefe
and fom Observations about the fame individual
Perlons variation of Stiie on different Subjects,
with the facility and frequency of perfonating
others, may be further confider’d in Dr. Wal¬
ker’s original Account. In this condition
flood the Reputation of this Book, till the Iaft
and finiihing difeovery of the Impofture was
made after this manner. Mr. Arthur
North, a Merchant now living on Tower -
hil, London , a man of good Credit, and a
Member of the Church of England, marry’d
the Sifter of her that was Wife to the Doftor’s
Son Charles G auden, who dying left
fom Papers with his Widow, among which
Mr. North, being concern’d about his Sifter
in Law’s Affairs, found a whole bundle relat¬
ing to Eikon Bafilike: Thefe Papers old Mrs.
G a u d e n left to her darling Son John, and
he to his Brother Charles. There is firft a
Letter from Secretary Nicholas to Dr.
Gaude n, 2. The Copy of a Letter from
Bifhop G a u d e n to Chancellor Hyde,
where, among his other Deferts, he pleads
that what was don like a King, fhould have
a Kinglike Retribution; and that his defign in 1
it was to comfort and incourage the King’s
Friends, to expofe his Enemies, and to con¬
vert, &c. There is, 3. The Copy of a Letter
from the Biftjop to the Duke of Tork, wher-

in

9° The Life of JohnMilton^

in he ftrongly urges his Services. 4. A Letter
under Chancellor Hyde’s own hand, dated
the i jth of March , 1661. wherin he expreffes
his uneafinefs under the Bifhop’s importunity,
and excufes his inability yet to ferve him : but
towards the Conclufion it contains thefe remark¬
able words; 1 he Particular you mention has in¬
deed bin imparted to me as a Secret ; lam forryl ever
knew it: and when it ceafes to be a Secret , it will
pleafe none but Mr. Milton. There are other
Papers in this bundle, but particularly a long
Narrative of Mrs. Gauden’s own writing*
irrefragably fhewing her Husband to be Au¬
thor ot Eikon Baflike. It intirely confirms
Dr. Walker’s account, and contains molt
of the faffs we have hitherto related, with ma¬
ny other curious Circumftances too long to be
here inferted, yet too extraordinary not to be
known ; wherfore I refer the Reader to the 0-
riginal Paper, or to the faithful extraft made
out of it before feveral learned and worthy
Perfons, and which is printed in a Paper inti¬
tul’d, Truth brought to light. Thus came all
the World to be convinc’d of this notorious
Impofture ; which as it was dexteroufly
contriv’d, and molt cunningly improv’d by a
Party whofe Intereft oblig’d ’em to keep the
Secret, lo it happen’d to be dilcover’d by very
nice and unforefeen Accidents. Had not Gau-
den bin difappointed of Winchejler, he had
never pleaaed his Merit in this affair; nor
would his Wife have written her Narrative,

had

kt

J,

The Life of John Milton. 9?

had King C h a r l e s the Second beftow’d one
half years Rent on her after her Husband’s
deceafe, which upon her Petition, and confider-
ing her numerous Family, none could imagin
fhould be refus’d. It was a flighter accident
that begot a Confeflion from two Kings, and
ChaiTles’s own Sons: and I doubt if
any other than one of Mr. Millington ’ s
great Curiofity, and no Bigotry, had the dif-
pofal of my Lord Anglesey’s Books, we
fhould never have heard of the Memorandum .
Had not Hollingworth’s indifcrete
Zeal provok’d the only Man then alive who
had any perfonal knowlege of this bufinefs,
Dr. W a l k e.r had never publilh’d his Ac¬
count ; nor could the whole difcovery be fo
complete, without the leaft intricacy or que-
ftion, without Mr. North’s Papers. When
I ferioufly confider how all this happen’d a-
mong our felves within the compafs of forty
years, in a time of great Learning and Polite-
nefs, when both Parties fo narrowly watch’d
over one another’s Actions, and what a great
Revolution in Civil and Religious Affairs was
partly occafion’d by the Credit of that Book,
I ceafe to wonder any longer how fo many fup-
pofititious pieces under the name of Christ,
his Apoftles, and other great Perfons, fhould
be publilh’d and approv’d in thofe primitive
times, when it was of fo much importance to
have ’em believ’d j when the Cheats were too
manyon all lides for them to reproach one ano-

5 >t The Life of John Milton?

ther,which yet they often; did when Commerce
was not near fo general as now, and the whole
Earth intirely overfpread with the darkncfs of
Superftition. I doubt rather the Spurioufnefs
of feveral more fuch Books is yet undifcover’d,
thro the remotenefs of thofeAges, the death of
the Perfons concern’d, and the decay of other
Monuments whicli might give us true Infor¬
mation ; efpecially when we confider how dan¬
gerous it was always for the weaker fide to
lay open the tricks of their Adve'rfarfes, tho
never fo grofs: and that the prevailing Party
did ftri&ly order all thofe Books which offend¬
ed them to be burnt, or otherwife fuppreft,
which was accordingly perform’d, as well in
obedience to the Laws by fom, as out of con-
fcientious Obligations by others, which made
the execution more effe&ual than ufually hap¬
pens in cafes of an ordinary nature. Of this
we are furnifh’d with numberlefs Examples by
Church-Hiftorians, who have preferv’d intire
feveral of the Laws and Orders ena&ed to this
purpofe. From thefe general Remarks I muft
obferve in particular, that ’tis likely when
Charles the Second knew the forgery of
this Book, he was fully confirm’d inthePopilh
Religion, which in his Childhood he learnt of
his Mother, and in his Exile by his foren Con-
verfation. The Author of Eikon Bafilike de¬
fires him to adhere to the Church of England,
as neceffary both for his SouPs peace, and that
of the Kingdom. This and the like Exhorta¬
tions

The Life of John Milton. 3

tions of RefpeT for the Liturgy and Clergy,
might fbew, at leaf!, the Judgment of his
dying Father; but from Dr. Gauden it was
mere Intereft and Impofture. Charles
therfore, who knew Morley, Duppa,
and others, to approve of this Fraud to which
they were privy, and for whofe Advantage the
belief of it was ferviceable, muft either fufpe£t
the Forgeries laid by Ptoteftants to the charge
of Popery, when he adually knew the Prote-
ftants to play the fame Game : or not being
able to deny the Popifh Cheats, ’tis moil pro¬
bable the Opinion which his intimat Friends
had of him was too true, that he was really of
neither Church, but believed the Pretences of
both to be Credulity or Craft; and that the
tranfaftions of his laft Minutes were only the
effefts of a weak Mind in a diftemper’d Body.

MILTON wrote alfo in tlie year 48. Ob-
fervations upon the Reprefentation of the Pref-
bytery of Belfa/l in'Ireland, concerning the
King’s Death, the breaking of the Covenant,
and the Toleration of different Perfuafions, to
which thefe Prieftlings, as he calls them, were
mortal Enemies; while they call’d their own
Presbyterian Government the Hedg and Bul¬
wark of Religion, which is exaftly the lan¬
guage of the Popifh Inquifition. In the fame
Obfervations he examins the Duke of Or¬
mond's Letter to Colonel Jones Govern¬
or of Dublin , perfuading him to revolt from
the Parlament. M 1 l t 0 n is very angry that

O R-

94 The Life of John Milton.’

Ormond made a contemtuous mention'Iof
General Cromwel, “ who, according
to him, had don in a few years more eminent
“ and remarkable Deeds, wheron to found
“ Nobility in his Houfe, tho it were wanting,
“ and perpetual Renown to Pofterity, than
“ O r m o n d and all his Anceftors put together
“ could fhew from any Record of their Irijb
“ Exploits, the wideft Scene of their Glory.
But his chiefeft Remarks are upon the Articles
of Peace which Ormond concluded in the
King’s Name, and by his Authority, with the
Popifh Irijb Rebels, wherin they are pardon’d
for the Maffacre and Depredation of the Eng-
lijb Proteftants; acknowleg’d to be dutiful and
loyal Subje&s; are difcharg’d from taking the
Oath of Supremacy, principally fram’d on the
account of Papifts: and, in a word, fuch Free¬
doms and Privileges were granted to thofe in¬
human Butchers, as were never injoy’d by their
Englijh Conquerors* The Second Article im-
powers the Irijb Parlament to repeal or fufpend
(as they think fit) Poyning’s Aft, the
only fecurity of their dependence on England .
They are intruded by him with the Militia ;
and fo indulgent was he to thefe his choice Fa-
vorits, as ridiculoufiy to promife them the re¬
pealing of thofe Afts which prohibited their
plowing with Horfes by the Tail, or burning
Oats in the Straw, marks of their fdttifll and
indocil Barbarity.

7 be Life of John Milton. 95
AND now we com to his Mafter piece, his
chief and favorit Work inProfe, for Argument
the nobleft, as being the Defence of a whole
free Nation, the People of England, ; for ftile
and difpofition the moft eloquent and elaborat,
equalling the old Romans in the purity of their
own Language, and their higheft Notions of
Liberty; as univerfally fpread over the learned
World as any of their Compofitions; and
certain to endure while Oratory, Politics, or
Hiftory bear any efteem among Men. It can*
not be den/d, fays that excellent Critic Monfteur
B a 1 l e, that Milton’s Latin ftile is ex-
jfy, brisk, and elegant ; nor that he defended the Re¬
publican Caufe with a world of jlddrefs and
Wit : Agreable to which Judgment is the
unanimous Suffrage of Foreners, not except¬
ing the moft zealous Affertors of Monarchy.
It was written upon this occafion. Charles
eldeft Son to the King of the fame name living
in Exile, and wanting fom body to paint the
Death of his Father in the blackeft Colors, ei¬
ther to render the Authors of it odious, the
better to bring about his own return; or, if
that effe£t did not anfwer, to move the Com¬
panion of Foren Potentats to procure his Re-
ftoration, was told of Salmasius a Pro-
feffor of the Univerfity of Leyden in Holland ,
as the fitteft perfon for his purpofe. This Man
had got fuch a mighty Name from his Plinian
Exercitations, and his critical Notes on feveral
Latin and Greec Authors, that none was

thought

Xv iiiir i

$6 The Life of Jjohtl Miltorh

thought fo knowing to equal, or fo hardy to
mcounter him. This Man therfore Charles
the Second hir’d for a hundred Jacobujfes to
write that bulky Volume, which in the year
49 appear’d under the Title of Defenfto Regia ,
or a Defence of Charles the Firft to
Charles the Second. Salmasius be¬
ing better verft in the Writings of Grammari¬
ans, and Lexicographers (which fort of Men
were his chief Admirers) than in thofe of Le-
giflators and Politicians, gave a true Demon-
ftration that mere Scholars, when they meddle
with any thing that requires Reafoning or
Thought, are but mere Affes: for being whol¬
ly occupy’d about frivolous Etymologies, or
the bare found of words, and living moft of
their time excluded from Converfation, bury’d
in duft among Worms and mouldy Records,
they have no exa£t knowlege of things, and
are perfect Grangers to all the ufeful bufinefs of
the World, Accordingly the Royal Defence
was deftitute of Eloquence or Art, being no¬
thing elfe but a huge heap of Rubbifh, con*
fitting of injudicious Quotations, very difor-
derly piec’d together, feldom making for his
purpofe; and, when they feem’d to favor him,
quite fpoii’d again by his own impertinent
Comments. But what’s worfe than all the
reft, he appear’d on this occaficn fuch an abfo-
iute ftranger and bungler in his own Province,
as to open a large Field for M 1 l t 0 n to divert
himfelf with his barbarous Phrafes and Sole-
1 cifms.

The Life of John-Milton. 97

cifrns. Nor had he more Wit like wife than to
publifh his Defence of Monarchy in Holland,
1 * at the fame time that lie had a Penfion from that

Free State, and wasa&ually entertain’d in their
Service ; for tho the Dutch were then ilo good
5 Wit Friends to the Englijb , being jealous of their
growing Power, yet they could not be pleas’d
^ with any Writing oppos’d to the common
Caufe of Liberty, and accordingly they blam’d
S a l m a s 1 u s, and order’d the Defence to be
!: fct fupprefr. Nq fooner did this Book appear in
England, but Milton being then prefent;
was unanimoufiy nam’d by every Member of
the Council of State to anfwer it; fo good an
opinion they had of his Capacity, neither did
he fail their Expectations: for within a Very
fhort time he publifh’d his Defenfio pro populo
toi Anglic ano, or the Defence of the People of

England ; wherin, to fpeak no more of his dd-
Ml mirable Stile than we have don already, iior of

IDdi his handfomly expoflngthe Ignorance dr Fury

WDgl Of S A lm asius, he defended the Frocedings

iH,n of the People of England from the beginning

yd§ of the Civil War to that time, with fuch Force

'fori Of Arguments and Authority of Examples,

orlt that fince there could be no difpute about the

m Vidtory he obtain’d over his Adverfary, the

ilk only doubt remaining with his Readers was,

# which fhotild be counted fuperior, his own

race, great Reading, Folitenefs, of' Judgment,

liven The Subject re' tod nice for me to make a-

.Sole Hf <uitfa€b df it according to the method.I

cfc ' *’ 6hf-

J

9 8 7be Life of John Milton;

obferv’d in fom of his other Books; and be¬
sides, it deferves fo much to be confider’d at T?
length in the Original, or in the Englifh Ver- I 1 ’
fion by Mr. W a s h i n g t o n of the Temple, ^
that I will not deprive any body of that plea-
fure. It’s true indeed, that fom have blam’d
Milton for his rough ufage of Salma-
si us, nor herein will I pretend wholly to ex-
cufe him i But when I confider how bafely ^
the whole Englifh Nation was abus’d by S a l-
^ a sans, as fo many Barbarians or Enthufi-
afts, fiercer than their own Maftifs and yet
hi her than Athenian Owls, itgos a great way ^
with me towards Milton’s Juftification; #1
and if we add to this, that he fpeaks not in his ln ® ,a
own Perfon, but as the Mouth of a potent m
State traduc’d by a pitiful Profelfor, there be 'W c
thole in the World that will pofitively com-
mend him. Two paffages only I fhall inlert ^ilii
here out of his Book; wherof the firft fhall Wr
be an Epigram he made to rid icule his Adverfary
for medling with Affairs to which he was a hkfe
It ranger, having all his intelligence from in- idtcb
rag’d and partial Exiles; but particularly for
his miftaking of Englifh Names, and his men-
tioning of the County Court* and Hundred. Mi

* tpn

Quit expedivit Salmafio fuam Hundredam ? tt,
Picamque docuit verba no fir a con art ? | Sod's

Magijter art is venter, & Jacobai Padert

Cent um., exulantis vifcera Marfupii regis. " %(

“agaisi

Quod \tii

- __ _ ^.__ ■ -

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a ; ^ The Life of John Miltoflu pp

coi% Quod fi dolofi fpes refulferk nummi.

Ip ft 7 AntichrtjU mdo qui pnmatu/n Pap*

'■ tfitT* Minxtus uno eft diffipare fufflatu,
of tlii’i Cantabit ultra Cardinditium Melos ;

ofSiu Engliftdd,

‘fclllt , *

bkit Who taught Salmasius, that French chat-
tring Py,

so? Enl To aim at Engliftj, and Hundred a cry ?

Kil: The flarving Rafcal, flufbt with juft a hun-
a great dred

Julia' Fnghftj ftacobuftes, Hundred* blunder’d;

ibu An outlaw’d'King’s laft Stock. A hundred
of 3 e more

for, tfe Would make him pimp for th’Antichriftian
m Whore; . . r • •

! lit And inRcwe’s praife imploy Ins poifon d Breath,
| e f| Who threaten’d once to ftink the Pope to death.

|| {?i In thefe Verfes he refldEts on Salmasius
jjjju for declaring himfelf againft any fort of Hie-
rarchy in his Book de Primatu Pap*, and yet
jii being a mighty ftickler for Bifhops in his De-
fence of the King. The other Paffage (hall be
the Epilogue or Conclufion of Milton’s
ll) Book. “ And now I think, fays he, that by
“ God’s Afftftance I have finifli’d the Work I
ic undertook, namely to defend the noble A<fti-

• “ ons of my Countrymen at home and abroad

^' “ againft the raging and envious madnefs of

this diftraded Sophifter; and to affert the

* “ G i “ common

u common Rights of the People againft the un-
<c juft domination of Kings, not out of any
<c hatred to Kings, but Tyrants : nor have I
a purpofely left unanfwer’d any one Argument
ic alleg’d by my Adverfary, nor any Example
“ or Authority quoted by him, that feem’d to
u have any force in it, or the leaft color of a
“ proof; perhaps I have bin guilty rather of
“ the other extreme, of replying to fom of his
u Fooleries and Trifles as if they were folid
“ Arguments, and therby may feemto have
“ attributed more to them than they deferv’d.
t( One thing yet remains to be don, which per-
“ haps is of the greateft concern of all, and
u that is, That you my Countrymen confute
“ this Adverfary of yours your felves ; which
“ I do not fee any other means of your effeft-
u ing than by a conftant indeavor to outdo all
“ Mens bad words by your own good Deeds.
a When you labor’d under more forts of Op-
“ preffion than one, you betook your felves to
u God for Refuge, and he was gracioufly
u pleas’d to hear your moft earneft Prayers and
“ Defires. He glorioufly deliver’d you, the
“ firft of Nations, from the two greateft
“ Mifchiefs of this Life, and the moft perni-
“ cious to Virtue, Tyranny and Superftition ;
“ he indu’d you with that Greatnefs of Soul to
u be the firft of Mankind, who, after having
“ conquer’d and captivated their own King,
ic have not fcrupl’d to condemn him judicially,
“ and according to that juft Sentence, to put

j. “ him

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The Life of John Milton. 101

“ him to death. After performing foilluftri-
« ous an Action as this, you ought to do no-
“ thing that’s mean and little, not even to
“ think, much lefs to do any thing but what
“ is great and fublime. To attain which
“ Praife there is only this way, that as you
“ have fubdu’d your Enemies in the field, fo
« to make it appear that unarm’d and in full
“ Peace you of all Mankind are ableft to con-
“ quer Ambition, Avarice, the love of Riches,
« and can beft avoid thofe Corruptions of Pro-
tl fperity which are apt to get the better of o-
“ ther Nations; to fliew as great Juft ice,
“ Temperance, and Moderation, inpreferving
u your Liberty, as you have don Courage in
“ freeing your (elves from Slavery. Thele are
“ the only Arguments and Authorities by
“ which you will be able to evince that you
“ are not fuch perfons as this Fellow reprc-
“ fents you, Traitors, Robbers, Murderers,
“ Parricides, Madmen; that you did not put
“ your King to death out of any ambitious de-
“ fign, or a defire of invading the Rights of o-
“ thers, not out of any feditious Principles or fi-
“ nifter Ends,not agitated by Fury or Madnefs;
“ but that it was wholly out of love to your
“ Liberty, Religion, Juftice, Virtue, and in-
“ flam’d with an AffeQion for your Country,
“ that you punifh’d a Tyrant. But if it
“ fliould happen other wife (which I pray God
“ mercifully to forbid) if as you have bin va-
‘‘ liantinWar, you fhould grow debauch’d in
G i “ Peace

a

a

a

102 The Life of John Milton.

Peace, you that have had fuch vifible De-
^nitrations of theGoodnefs of God to your
felves and his Wrath againft your Enemies,
and that you fhould not learn by fo eminent
and memorable an Example before your eys

• to fear God and work Righteoufnefs, for mv

<( P art ’ 1 P 1311 eafily grant and confefs (for I
cannot deny it) all the ill that Liers and Slam
„ d f r T now think or fpeak of you to be true.
a ^nd you will find in a little time that God’s
Difpieafure againft you will be greater than
it has bin againft your .Adverfaries, greater
than his benign Favor and paternal Care
which you have experienc’d above all the
Nations under Heaven. Milton was
rewarded with a thoufand Pounds for this per¬
formance ; and how differently his Defence of
the People, and that of Salmasius for the
King were entertain’d by the curious, we may
learn from the mouth'of him that next an-
pear d for the Royal Caufe. “ What the moft
accomphfh’d Salmasius, fays he, has
dilcretely written in defence of the Ricrht
and Honor of Charles the Britiih Mo¬
narch, murder d by wicked Men, has born
but one Impreflion, and faw the Light with
u w *th fo much hatred dos

<c the World perfecute Truth in thefe latter
tunes: but of what the moft execrable
Milton has fpitefully elaborated to ruin
the Reputation of the deceas’d King, and to
-* ddlr °y £ ^ e hereditary Succeftion of the

“ Crown,

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The Life of John Milton.' 105

“ Crown, there are fo many Editions, that I
u am uncertain to which of them I fhould re-
“ fer my Pleader ; fo padionatly fond are Men
u grown now of Lies and Calumnies! On this
Book our Author did not think it worth his
while to animadvert, but delegated thateafy
task to his younger Nephew John Phi¬
lips, now alive, who foon wrote a fuffkient
Anfwer to Bifhop Bramhal; for fo this
new Antagonist was fuppos’d to be caPd.

SALMASIUS msde a liu^e figure at
this time in the Swedijb Court, whither Queen
Christina invited all the Men of Letters
in Europe , fo that her whole Train was com¬
pos’d in a manner of Grammarians, Rhetori¬
cians, Philofophers, Aftrologers, and Critics:
nor washer Adminiftration unanfwerabletoher
Attendents; for befides a total negleft of good
Laws for the public Benefit, and her imprudent
preferring of Strangers before the Natives of
the Country, fhe led a mere romantic Life,
fomtimes frolicfomly difguifing her felf in
Mens Clothes, and then gravely difputing with
her Doctors,till at laid Hie was forc’d to a fhame-
ful Abdication of the Government; and the
end of all her Learning was to turn Papift for a
Penfion from the Pope, or to have an old mea¬
ger Frier to pardon her Sins, and a brawny
Cardinal for her Stallion. Now no fooner
had the Defence of the Englijb Nation reach’d
Sweden , and was read to the Queen at her own
defire, but Salmasius, who till then had
G 4 bin

i Q 4 The Life of John Milton,
bin as, it were her prime Minifter, and who ^
when he firft faw the Book, foolifhly fwore
he would deftroy Milton and the whole
ianament, decreas’d fo much in her efteem P 11 "

and d windled to fuch a degree in the opinion T0 ^

ot all others, that he thought it not for his ^

Intereff to continue longer there, and was dif- ^
mi “ w ich extraordinary Coldnefs and Contemt. M
And not expecting to be better receiv’d in Hoi- '»^i (
Lnd or any where elfe, he left an imperfed NO
polthumous Reply, and had recourfe to Death, M
the la ft refuge of the Miferable, and the fafeft poll
shelter to cover them from Infamy and Difgrace. M
Milton, on the other hand,was, on the firft ap- Infaocj

pearance of his Book, vifited or invited by all the Health
Ambaffadors at London, not excepting thofe of Mi
Crown’d Heads, and particularly efteem’d by’ Mbe
Adri a n P aw the Ambalfador of the flourifhing ftwitio

Repu blic of Holland. His Book indeed was burnt fcW
at Parti, not by order of the Parlament, but, tow

at the inftigation of the Priefts, by the Lieu- him

tenant Civil, and like wife at Tholoufe, which of Hi

fei v d only to procure it more Readers : for he fimec

was highly extol’d at the fame time, or com- Mow’

plemented by Letters from the moft ingenious Siskv

Perfcns in Germany or Prance ; and, as if the real®

old Grecian Republics had reviv’d to decree the acli tt

accuftom’d Honors to the Affertors of Liberty, fc| r

Leon a r dus P h i l a ra s, an Athenian born, ji ^

and Ambalfador from the Duke of Parma to
the French King, wrote a fine Commendation
of Ins Defence, and fent him his Picture, to-

gether

The Life of John Mitton loy

getherVith a perfonal Elogium. From thefe
undeniable Matters of Fa£t (without decid¬
ing the merit of the caufe on either fide) it is
plain that in the judgment of all Europe , M f l-
ton got infinitly the better of Salmasius;
for it could not be Partiality to a Free Govern¬
ment, but the refiftlefs Light of Truth, that
obtain’d fuch a Confellion from the Minifters
or Subje&s of abfolute Princes.

N O W he had fom leifure again to follow
Lis other Studies of a more delightful and
peaceable nature than thefe Controverfies, and
had alfo a Son born to him, who dy’d in his
Infancy. In the year 52, he remov’d for his
Health from his Lodgings at Whitehd to a
Houfe opening into St. J a m e s’ s Park, which
fhall be the Scene of all his Actions till the Re-
ftoration of the Royal Family. In this place
his firffc Wife dying in Childbed, hej after a
convenientfpace, marry’da fecond, Catha-
r 1 !n e the Daughter of Captain Woodcock
of Hackny , who within a year dy’d alfo in the
fame condition, and was about a month after
follow’d by her Child, which was a Girl. HL
Sight was quite gon before this Match ; for by
reafon of his continual Studies, and the Head-
ach to which he was fubject from his Youth,
his Eys were decaying for a dozen years before
but we fhall have an occafion by and by to
give a further account of this matter.

THE fame year appear’d a bitter Inventive
from abroad a gain ft the Parlamentariaus. The

Title

lo6 Tfje Life of John Milton.'

Title of it was, * The Cry of the King's Blood
for Viengeance to Heaven againjl the Englijh Pay.
ricides. In this Book M i l t o n is particular-
ly traduc’d, and accus’d to have bin expePd out
of the Univerfity of Cambridg for fom Mifde-
meanors, wherupon he retir’d into Italy ; but
the falfity of this Story is already prov’d. Se¬
veral other frivolous things are laid to his charge,
which he on the other hand denies; nor do his
Adverfaries infill: upon them in their Anfwers :
now there cannot be a clearer proof of his In¬
nocence, than that being accus’d he publicly
denies the fa£t, and his Enemies can’t contra¬
dict him. But Envy and Malice often carry
fuch as have got the worfe to affirm molt ab-
furd and ridiculous things: So Salmasius
in his dying Reply foolilhly reports that Mi l-
ton wrote not the Defence himfelf, but lent
his Name to the Hand of a little French School-
mafter at London. But, as it always happens
in fuch cafes, he got nothing by this filly ficr.
ment, but gave Milton an opportunity of.
making his own Ability, and the Weaknefs of
Salmasius, further known to the World.
Thus fom People think to gratify an offended
Perfon with telling him a hundred ilnatur’d
Stories of his Antagonift, to which his Paffion
makes him give credit without due Examina¬
tion, and then becoms a Fool by afferting them.
The true Author of the Clamor Regii Sangui~

nh %

f Clamor Regii Sanguinis ad Gxium, Sec .

- tu.

The Life of John Milton. 107

nit, was Peter du Moulin the young¬
er, a Prebendary of Canterbury ; but Alex¬
ander Morus a French Minifter being
the Publifher of it, and having prefix’d a De¬
dication in the Printer’s Name to Charles
II. he was generally thought to be the Writer
of the whole. This Morus was the Son of
a learned Scot, who was Principal of the Pro-
teftant College formerly at Cajlres in Langue¬
doc. His inlufierable Haughtinefs, immoderat
Inclination for Women, and Contemt of his
Collegues, made him odious and uneafy wher¬
ever he liv’d. He was haflry, ambitious, fa-
tyrical, and could never commend any thing
but his own Works, or thofe of his Admirers.
He was cry’d up for a Seraphic Preacher; but,
as B a 1 l e judicioufly fays, his Talent muft
have confifted in the Gracefulnefs of his Pro¬
nunciation and Gefture, or in thofe Flourifhes
and Puns wherof his Sermons are full: for ’tis
certain that they retain not thofe Charms now
on Paper which they were faid to have former¬
ly in the Pulpit. Againfl: him therfore M 1 l-
ton by public Command publifhesa fecond
Defence for the People of England , which,
befides what the Title promifes, contains a
bloody Satyr upon Morus, nor dos he deny
himfelf to have bin the occafion of Samasi-
us’s Death. I fhall not rake into the Afhes
of the Dead, but content my fell w r ith inferr¬
ing here two pieces of Milton’s Wit.
The firft is g. Diftich made upon Morus for

get-

/

io 3 The Life of John Milton.'

getting P o n t i a the Maid of his Friend Sal- t^l

masius with Child.

Galli ex Concuhitu gravidam te, Pontia, Mori ,
Quis bene moratam, morigeramque neget ?

The other fhall be an Epigram wherin M i l-
t o n laughs at Morus for threatning him
with a fecond Edition of Salmasius’s De¬
fence of the King, augmented with Animad-
verfions on his Defence of the People.

Gaudete Scombri , & quicquid ejl pifeium Sa!o y
Qui frigida. Hyeme incolitis algentes freta,
Vefirfim mifertus ille Salmafius Eques
Bonus amicire nuditatem cogitat ;

Chartxque lArgus apparat papyri nos
Vobis cucullos prxferentes Claudii
Jnfgnia , Nomenque , & Decus Salmafti :
Gejtetis ut per omne cetarium foYum
Equitis clientes, feriniis mungentium
Cubitovirorum, & capfulis gratifjimos.

The Author of the Clamor Regii Sanguinis ha¬
ving barbaroufly objefled to Milton his
Blindneis, and that he was meager and pale,
he gives him an Anfwer in thefe words: 44 I
44 was never counted deform’d, as I know, by
44 any that ever law me; but whether to be
44 counted handfom or not is none of my con-
44 cern. My Stature, I confefs, is not extraor-

“ dinary tall, yet I am rather a middlefiz’d

44 than

The Life of John Milton. 109

u than little Man. But what if little I were ?
il Have not many Perfons eminent in the Arts
“ of War and Peace bin fo before me ? tho I
u fee no reafon why that fhould be cal’d little
“ which in Courage is fufficiently great. Nei-
“ ther am I fo (lender ; for I was ftrong and
“ capable enough in my Youth to handle my
u Weapons, and to exercife daily Fencing : fo
“ that wearing a Sword by my fide, as became
“ a Gentleman, I thought my felf a match for
“ thofe that were much ftronger, and was not
“ afraid of receiving an affront from any body.
“ I have (till the fame Soul and Vigor, but not
“ the fame Eys; yet to all outward appear-
“ ance fo found, fo clear, and free from the
<c leafi: fpot, as theirs who fee furtheft: and
“ herein only, in fpite of my felf, I am a De-
“ ceiver. My Countenance, than which he
<£ fays there’s nothing paler, is (till of a Color
<c fo contrary to wan and bloodlefs, that tho
u I am above forty, any body would think me
“ ten years younger, being neither contracted
“ in Body or Skin. If in any of thefe par-
•i 4 ticulars I told a Ly, I fhould be defervedly
a ridiculous to many thoufehds of my own
Countrymen, and to feveral Strangers that
<£ perfonally know me. As for his Blindnefs,
he fays that fuch a condition is not miferable,
but not to be able to bear it; and then quotes
the Examples of valiant, learned, wife, and
holy Men of all times that have bin blind. But
thelofs of his Eys being objected to him as an

11 o The JJfe of John Milton.

effeft of divine Vengeance, after folemnly pro-
teftingthat he’s not confciousof anything for
which he fhould deferve that punifhment more
than other Men, he adds, “ As for what I
“ wrote at any time (face the Royalifts think
I now fuffer on that account, and triumph
“ over me) I call God to witnefs that I did
“ ^ write any thing but what I then thought,
“ and am ftill perfuaded to be right, and true
“ and acceptable to God ; not led by any fort
u of Ambition, Profit, or Vainglory ; but
* have don all from a fenfe of Duty and Ho-
“ nor, or out of piety to my Country, and
“ for the Liberty of Church and State. Oil
“ the contrary, when that Task of anfwering
il the King’s Defence was injoin’d me by pub-
“ lie Authority, being both in an ill Rate of
“ Health, and the Sight of one Ey almoft
“ gon already, the Phyficians openly predicting
“ the lofs of both if I undertook this Labor ;
“ yet nothing terrify’d by their Premonition, I
“ did not long balance whether any Duty
“ ftould be prefer’d to my Eys. And what he
really thought of his Blindnefs, and how he
bore it, may be further perceiv’d by this
Sonnet to his Friend Cyriac Skinner,
never printed with his other Poems.

II1

7 be life of John Milton.

Cy ri a c, this three years day, thefe Eys, tho clear

To outward view of blemifh or of fpot.

Bereft of fight, their feeing have forgot.

Nor to their idle Orbs dos Day appear,

Or Sun, or Moon, or Star, throout the year;

Or Man, or Woman. Yet I argue not

Againft Heaven’s hand,or will,nor bate one jot

Of Heart or Hope; but ft ill bear up, and fteer
Right onward. What fupports me,doft thou ask?

The Confcience,Friend, t’have loft them over-
ply’d

In Liberty’s Defence, my noble Task,
Wherof all Europe rings from fide to fide.

This Thought might lead me thro this
World’s vain Mask,

Content, tho blind, had I no other Guide.

M O R U S publifh’d his Fides publica in an-
fwer to Milton’s fecond Defence, to which
the latter oppos’d a * Defence of himfelf ; and by
Original Letters, or the like Authentic Pieces,
made good all his Aflertions againft his Adver-
fary: wherupon Morus vanquifh’d and baf¬
fled, quitted the Field. Our Author was now
Latin Secretary to the Prote&or Oliver
Cromwel, who, he confidently hop’d,
would imploy his Truft and Power to extin-
guiflh the numerous Faftions of the State, and
to fettle fuch a perfect Form of a Free Govern-

* Defenflo pro fe.

ment.

1 1 1 The Life of John Milton.

ment, wherin no fingle Perfon fhould injoy
any Power above or befide the Laws: but he
particularly expe&ed his eftablifbing an impar¬
tial Liberty of Confcience, to which he incou¬
rages him by thefe lines, never printed among
his Poems.

Cromwel, our chief of Men, that thro a Croud
Not of War only, but Diftra&ions rude,
(Guided by Faith and matchlefs Fortitude)

To Peace and Truth thy glorious way haft
plow’d,

And fought God’s Battles,and his Work purfu’d.
While Dament Streams,with Blood of Scots im¬
bru’d,

And Dunbar Field refound thy Praifes loud,
And Worc'fiers Laureat Wreath. Yet much re¬
mains

To conquer ftill; Peace has her Victories,

No lefs than thofe of War. New Foes arife
Threatning to bind our Souls in fecular Chains:
Help us to fave free Confcience from the Paw
Of hireling Wolves, whofe Gofpel is their Maw,

HE had leifure enough now from his Im*
ployment in the State (no Adverfary daring to
appear any more) to purfue his Hifiory of Bri¬
tain, and his new Thefaurm Lingu# Latin# :
but what took up moft of his time was the Epic
Poem he had fo long defign’d, and which is
fince printed under the Title of Paradife Left;
wherof in due order. But the next Book lie

The Life of John Milton. i i \

publifh’d was a Treatife, dedicated to the Park-
ment, of Civil Power in Ecclefeaftical Caufes ,
piewing that it is not lawful for any Power on
Earth to compel in Matters of Religion, whe¬
ther fpeculative or practical; or in any thing
except Immorality, or what evidently fubverts
the Foundation of civil Society: for which rea¬
son he juftly excludes Popery from this Tolera¬
tion, for being not fo much a Religion, as a po¬
litic Faction, wherof the Members, wherfoc-
ver they are, own the Pope for their Superior,
to the prejudice of the Allegiance due to their
natural Soverains- Befides, that they never
tolerat others where they, have the marlery j
and that their Dodlrin of Dilpenfations, ,or
keeping no Faith with fuch as they count He¬
retics, renders ’em worfe than Atheifts, and
the declar’d Enemies of all Mankind befides
thofe of their own Communion.

AFT. ER this headdrelt to the Parlament
Confederations touching the likeliefe weans to re¬
move Hirelings out of the Church ; not that he
was againft all fort of Maintenance for the pub¬
lic Miniftry of Religion, which he acknow-
leges due by the Light of Reafon, as well as
the Iixamples of all Ages; but he proves that
Tithes were inconvenient, and nor of Divine
Right, which Was then Rrongly alfertcd even
by the Presbyterians and Independents. He ob-
ferves, that two things do mainly corrupt Re-
bgion, and hinder the advancement of Truth,
Force on the one fide reftraining the Profeffors

H and

114 7 be Life of John Milton.

and Hire on the other fide corrupting the 4 ,‘
Teachers of it. “ The latter of thefe, fays iCfo
“ he, is by much the more dangerous: for un- jtk-
“ der Force, tho no thanks to the Forcers, true pta
“ Religion oft times beft thrives and flourifhes; 0
u but the Corruption of Teachers, mo ft com- [lift
“ monly the efteftsof Hire, is the very bane of Itm'
“ Truth in them who are fo corrupted. There fef-
is much curious Hiftory in this Book concerning jut cm
Church Revenues, to which I refer thofe who jajb
have not read Father Paul of Beneficiary Mat- 0’s
ters, nor Father Simon who wrote after him. 4
Speaking of the Minifters, “ They pretend, from'
“ fays he, that their Education, either at Lfr;
“ School or the Univerfity, has bin very charge- grfu
“ able, and therfore ought to be repair’d after- Jo
<c wards by a fruitful Maintenance: wheras it
“ is well known that the better half of them .ft
“ (and oft times poor and pitiful Boys, of no ^
<c merit or promifing hopes that might intitie
<c them to the public Provifion, but their Po-
“ verty and the unjuft favor of Friends) have y
“ had the moft of their Breeding, both at y,
a School and Univerfity, by Scholarfhips, Ex-
u hibitions, and Fellowfhips, at the public ^4
u Coft, which might ingage them the rather „

“ to give freely as they freely receiv’d. Or if|y
u they have mift of thefe Helps at the latter f
“ place, they have after two or three years left ^
tc the courfe of their Studies there (if they
“ ever well began them) and undertaken, tho
ic furnifh’d with little elfe but Ignorance, Bold-

“ nefs.

The Life of John Milton. 11 ^

nefs, and Ambition, if with no worfe Vices,
a Chaplainfhip in Torn Gentleman’s Houfe,
to the frequent imbafing of his Sons with illi-
« terat and narrow Principles. Or if they have
tc liv’d there upon their own, who knows not
* ( that feven years charge of living there, to
them who fly not from the Government of
« their Parents to the Licenfe of a Univeruty,
« but com ferioufly to ftudy, is no more than
« may be well defray’d and reimburft by one
« year’s Revenue of an ordinary goodBene-
“ flee? If they had then means of Breeding
“ from their Parents, ’tis likely they have more
« now ; and if they have, it mud need , be
« mechanic and difingenuous in them to bring
“ a Bill of Charges for the learning thofe hbe-
“ ral Arts and Sciences which they have learnt
“ (if they have indeed learnt them, as they
“ feldom have) to their own benefit and ac-
“ cornplifhment. Towards the Conclufion he
has thefe words : “ I have thus at large exa-
“ min’d the ufual Pretences of Hirelings, co-
“ lor’d over moft commonly with the Caufe of
H Learning and Univerlities; as if with Di-
u vines Learning Hood and fell, wherin for the
a moft part their Pittance is fo ftnall ; and, to
“ fpeak freely, it were much better there were
“ not one L)ivine in the Univerfity, nor no
“ School Divinity known, the idle Sophiftry of
Monks, the Canker of Religion ; and that
“ they who intended to be Minifters, were
“ train’d op in the Church only by the Scrip-

H 2 “ hurl-.

\

11 6 7 he Life of John Milton.

“ ture, and in the Original Languages therof at ‘flA

“ School, without fetching the compafs of tkirl

“ other Arts and Sciences more than what they jNW

“ can well learn at fecondary leifure, and at tics, :

“ home. Neither fpeak I this incontemtof ‘Iff

“ Learning, or the Miniftry, but hating the <(ll

“ common Cheats of both; . hating that they ‘ikir

“ who have preach’d out Bifhops, Prelats, and •«,

u Canonilfs, fhould, in what ferves their own iwl

“ ends, retain their falfe Opinions, their pha- forty

u rifaical Leven, their Avarice, and clofely tkf

ic their Ambition, their Pluralities, their Non- olttii

u refidences, their odious Fees, and ufe their 'olb

“ Legal and Popifh Arguments for Tithes: tfai

“ That Independents fhould take that name, <§io

u and feek to be Dependents on the Magiftiat jj|

“ for their Maintenance ; which two things, 44

a Independence «nd Statehire in Religion, can
“ never confift long or certainly together. For
“ Magiftrats at one time or other, not like
“ thefe at prefent our Patrons of Chriftian Li- \ p a |]
“ berty, will pay none but fuch whom by their , out
u Committees of Examination they find con-
“ formable to their Intereft and Opinions: And q

u Hirelings will Toon frame themfelves to that y

“ Intereft and thofe Opinions which they fee ^

“ beft pleafing to their Paymafters; and, to yj

u feem right themfelves, will force others as to . 1’
t( the Truth. After proving the Chriftian Re¬
ligion not to be more difficult than any other
Art or Science, nay, and that the know lege of
it may be much fooner attain’d ; “ We may

“ con-

The Life of John Milton. \ \y

a conclude, fays he, that if Men be not all
“ their lifetime under a Teacher to learn Logic,
u Natural Philofophy, Ethics, or Mathema-
“ tics, which are more difficult; that certain-
“ ly it is not necelfary to the attainment of
“ Chriftian Knowlege, that Men Should lit all
“ their life long at the feet of a pulpited Di-
“ vine, while he, a Lollard indeed over his El-
“ bow Cufhion, in almoft the feventh part of
forty or fifty years, teaches them fcarce half
“ the Principles of Religion: And his Sheep
“ oft times fit all the while to as little purpofe
“ of benefiting, as the Sheep in their Pews at
“ Smithfeld , and for the moft part are by four
“ Simony or other bought and fold like them ;
“ or, if this Comparifon be too low, likethofe
(i Women, mention’d by St. Paul, ever
“.learning and never attaining; yet not fo
£< much thro their own fault, as thro the un-
<£ skilful and immethodical Teaching of their
“ Paftor, preaching here and there at random
“ out of this or that Text, as his eafe or fancy,
“ and oft times as his health guides him.

C R O M W E L being dead, Richard
depos’d, and the Army having reftor’d the old
famous Parlament, but almoft as foon dilfolv’d
it, Milton wrote a Letter to fom States¬
man, with whom he had a ferious DifcoUrfe
about the lamentable Confufions of that time.
It is in a very pathetic Stile, and contains a true
Representation of what the Soldiers had don :
to whom he tells, that it is lcarce to be exam-

H ^ pled,

J

1 18 The Life of John Milton.

pled, even among Barbarians, that an Army
duly paid fhould, for no caufe at all, fubdue
the Supreme Power that fet them up. u This, f
“ fays he, other Nations will judg to the fad f
u difhonor of that Army, lately renown’d for f
“ the civile!! and beft order’d in the Univerfe,

“ and by us here at home for the moll confci- *•'
“ entious. Now, if an Army deferving this
Character was capable of inflaving their Coun- y
try, what may be expe&ed from any other, as
moftare, of a worfe difpofition? In this Letter
lie delivers the Model of a Commonwealth; ^

not fuch as he thought the beft, but what might ^
be readieft fettled at that time to prevent the ^
reftitution of Kingfhip and Domeftic Difor- 5t ''
ders, till a more favorable Seafon, or better
■ Difpcfitions for ere&ing aperfeft Democracy,

I bis and another fmall Piece to the fame pur- ^
pofe, addreft I fuppofe to Mon k, were com- "F®
municated tome by a worthy Friend, who a
little after the Author’s Death, had them from 11 to
his Nephew ; and I imparted them to the Pub-
lifhers of the new Edition of his Works in ^
Folio. "com

HIS laft Piece before the Reftoration of the /ws
Royal Family, except the brief Notes he pub- “ to
lifht on Dr. Griffith’s Sermon, was in- “«
titul’d, The ready and eajy Way to eflablifj a free ! ta|
Commonwealth , and the Excellence ther ofcompar'd
with the Inconveniences and Dangers of read- "lj,
rkitting ICjngjhip in this Nation. This Book l '
appear’d in Sixty, when he perceiv’d that noxi-

ous

The Life of John Milton. 119

ous humor of returning to Bondage, as he calls
it, to prevail, which was inftil’d by fom De¬
ceivers, and nourifht by the bad Principles or
falfe Apprehenfions of the People. “ If their
« abfolute Determination be to enthral us, fays
“ he ; before fo long a Lent of Servitude, they
“ may permit us a little Shroving time firft,

“ wherin to fpeak freely and take our leaves of
“ Liberty. He indeavors to fet before the Eys
of the Nation the folly and unreafonablenefs
of all they had fo valiantly don for feveral years,
if they at laft readmitted Kinglhip; that they
would be the fhame of all free Countrys, and
the Laughingftock of all Monarchies. “ W here
“ is this goodly Tower of a Commonwealth,
« will Foreners fay, which the Englijh boafted
“ they would build to overfhadow Kings,
“ and be another Rome in the Weft ? 1 he
“ Foundation indeed they laid gallantly, but
“ fell into a worfe Confulion, not of Tongues
“ but of Factions, than thofeat the Tower of
u Babel , and have left no Memorial of their
<c Work behind them remaining, but in the
u common laughter of Europe. Which mull
“ needs redound the more to our fhame, if we
“ but look on our Neighbors the United Pro-
“ vinces , to us inferior in all outward Advan-
“ tages; who notwithftanding, in the midft
* of greater Difficulties, couragioufly, wife-
<£ ly, conftantly, went thro with the fame
“ Work, and are fettled in all the happy in-
a joymentsof a potent and flouriihing Repub-

H 4 “ lie

^20 The Life of John Milton.

c lie to this day. Befides this, if we return %

4 to Kingfhip, and foon repent (as undoubted- W

“ ly we flia.ll when we find the old Incroach- 'w 111

“ ments coming by little and little upon our
44 Confciences, which rauft necelTarily pro-
“ cede from King and Bifhop united infepa- ‘fl*

? cably in one Intereft) we may be forc’d per- 'fo

haps to fight over again all that we have. ‘W®

fought.-A Free Commonwealth was not ‘few

44 only held by wifeft Men in all Ages, the '«

nobleft, the manlielf, the equalled:, the juft- ‘Alt

44 eft Government, the moft agreable to due ikn

4k Liberty, and proportion’d Equality, both ‘tW

44 Human, Civil, andChriftian, moftcherifh- "fel

V in g to virtue and true Religion, but alfa hi

V plainly commended, or rather injoin’d by.

44 our^ Savior himfelf to all Chriftians, not ;%

44 without a remarkable difallowance, and the ‘ill

brand of Gentiliim upon Kingfhip. God ( Geot

44 in much difpleafure gave a King to the Ifra-
44 elites, and imputed it a Sin to them that they "tat

fought one: but Christ apparently forbids ‘fe

44 his Difciples to admit of anv fuch Heathen- <,q

4 - ifh Government. The Kjnfs of the Gentils, <foc

4 * lay s he, exercife Lordjhip over them, and they “(W

that exercife Author tty upon them are cal'd Ber «y

« nefactors : But you (hall not do fo , but he «Jj,

that is great eft among you, let him be as the
c - younger ; and he that is chief as he that ferves. (if,
y The occafion of thefe words was the am- |iqi

bitious defire of Zebedees two Sons to ha

be exalted above their Brethren in the King-

44 dom.

The Life of John Milton 1 1\

u donVwhich they thought was to be e’er long
a upopEarth. That he fpeaks of Civil Go-
“ ver/imerit is manifed by the former part of
u the Comparifon, which infers the other part
(i to be alvyays of the fame kind. And what
u Government corns nearer to this Precept of
“ Christ, than a Free Commonwealth ?
(i Wherin they who are greated are perpetual
<( Servants and Drudges to the Public at their
“ own cod and charges, neglecting their own
“ Affairs, yet are not elevated above their Bre-
“ thren, live foherly in their Families, walk
“ the Streets as other Men, may be fpoken to
“ freely, familiarly, without Adoration. Wher-
as a King muff be ador’d like a Demigod,
u with a dilfolute and haughty Court about
<( \him, of vaft Expence and Luxury, Masks
i( and Revels, to the debauching of our prime
<c Gentry both Male and Female, not in their
“ Paftimes only, but in earned by the loofe
<c Imployments of Court Service, which will
“ be then thought honorable. There will be
<£ a Queen of no lefs charge; in mod Iikeli-
<c hood outlandifh and a Papid, beddes a
“ Queenmother fuch already, together with
u both their Courts and numerous Train.
“ Then a Royal Iffue, and e’er long feverally
u their fumtuous Courts, to the multiplying
“ of a fervil Crew, not of Servants only, but
<c of Nobility and Gentry bred up then, not
“ to the hopes of Public, but of Court Offices;
“ to be Stewards, Chamberlains, Ufhers,

“ Grooms.

s 2 2 The Life of John Milton. J

“ Grooms, even of the ClofeftooJ : and the A' v

“ lower their Minds are debas’d with Court o- jdby
“ pinions contrary to all Virtue and Reforma- ®ofl

u tion, the haughtier will be their Pride and j U

“ Profufenefs. As to the burden of Expence, ;el, 9

“ we fhall foon know it to our colt; for any jffen

t( good to us, deferving to be term’d no better jltof
Lc than the vaft and lavilh price of our Sub-
“ jection and their Debauchery, which we jt®

a are now fo greedily cheapening, and would ntlil

“ fo fain be paying moll inconfideratly to a htk,

u Engle Perfon, who, for any thing wherin J®ta
‘ c the Public really needs him, will have little
“ elfe to do but to beftow the eating and drink-
“ ing of exceffive Dainties, to fet a pompous
“ face upon the fuperficial a flings of the State, ^

tc to pageant himfelf up and down in progrefs (

“ among the perpetual Bowings and Cringings fa

“ of an abjeft People, on either fide deifying ■;

“ and adoring him for nothing don that can ] r

u deferve it. In this Book he delivers the Mo¬
del of a Commonwealth, well futed perhaps jj
to the Circumllances of that time, but infe¬
rior in all refpefts to H a r r i n g t o n ’ s 0 -
ceana, which for the Praclicablenefs, Equality,
and Completenefs of it, is the moll perfect
form of fuch a Government that ever was de- ^
lineatea by any antient or modern Pen. ‘f (

A N D now, the King being ready to land, ^
our Author was difcharg’d from his Office of
, Latin Secretary, and oblig’d for the Safety of
his Perfon to leave his Houle near St. J a m e s ’ s

Park,

The Life of John Milton. 125

Park, where for eight years before he was vi-
fited by all Foreners of Note, by feveral Per-
fons of Quality, and by the Ingenious of eve¬
ry Perfuafion or Party. Andrew Mar¬
vel, who by his Parts and Probity made him-
felf fo much known fince that time in England ,
us’d to frequent him the ofteneft of any body ;
and whether it was he or M 1 l t o n (for both
are nam’d for it) that made the Verfes fent
with Cromwel’s Pi&ure to the Queen of
Sweden , I am uncertain: but whoever was the
Author, they deferve a room in this place.

Cromwel fpeaks:

Be/lipofens virgo , feptem Regina Trionum
Chriftina., ArBoi lucidaftella poll ;

Cernis quas merui dura fub Cajjide rugas,

Utque fenex armis impiger ora tero :
Inviafatorum dum per veftigia nit or,

Exequor & populi fort/a jujfa manu.

Aft tibi fubmittit frontem reverentior umbra ,
Nec funt hi •vultus regibus u/que truces,

Engliflj’d,

Bright martial Maid, Queen of the frozen
Zone,

The Northern Pole fupports thy fl lining
Throne;

Behold

i24 77 ;e Life of John Milton.

Behold what Furrows Age and Steel can plow,
The Helmet’s weight oppreft this wrinkled

Brow.

Thro Fate’s untrodden Paths I move, my Hands
Still a£t my freeborn Peoples bold Commands.-
Yet this ftern fhade to you fubmits his Frowns,
Nor are thefe Looks always fevere to Crowns.

FROM the'year 52 to that of 60 hecor-
refponded much with learned Foreners, as ap¬
pears by his Letters to Millius, Olden¬
burg, Heimbachi us, De Brass, Leo
ab Aizema, and Emeric Bigot, His
Admirer LeonardusPhilaras coming
upon fom occafions to London, went to fee
Milton, who, tho he could not fee him
again, was extremely pleas’d with his Conver-
fation. He afterwards acquainted Milton
by a Letter, that there was a Phyfician who
perform’d Wonders on blind People at Paris,
and requefts him to fend in writing the flate
and progrefs of his Diftemper, which to grati¬
fy his Friend our Author perform’d, yet with¬
out expreding any hopes of a cure. C y r i a c
Skinner was one of his conflant Vifitors,
which Honor he not feldom receiv’d alfo from
the pious and virtuous Lady Ranelagh,
whole Son, the prefent Earl of Ranelagh, he
inftru&ed for fom time, and fent him feveral
Letters of Advice during his Travels abroad ;
but in one direfted to him at the Univerfity,

he

^Sr-TTfianwfi

\

The Life of John Milton. 12^

he ufes thefe words: “ As for what you writs
“ to me, that you are fo much pleas’d with
a Oxford , you cannot perfuade me the more
“ that you receiv’d any Improvement there,
“ or art becom a bit the wifer, unlefs you fhew
“ me fom other Reafons for it. Thofe Vifto-
a ties of Princes which you extol, and fuch
“ other things, wherin Force has the greateft
“ fhare, I would not have you too much ad-
“ mire, efpecially now being a Hearer of Phi-
“ lofophers: where’s the wonder if in the
“ Country of Rams there grow ftrong Horns,
u which are able to batter Towns and Cities
<c with fuch violence ? But learn thou from
“ thy Childhood to difcern and judg of great
“ Examples, not from Violence and Force, but
“ by Jutlice and Temperance.

BUT, as I faid before, he was now oblig’d
to abfcond til! the Aft of Oblivion was pub-
lifh’d, wherin he and John Goodwin
(the great Spreader of Arminianifm , and who
in writing alfo juftify’d the Death of Charles
the Firft) were only excepted from bearing
any Office in the Nation. Our Author had ma¬
ny good Friends to intercede for him both in
the Privy Council and in the Houfe of Com¬
mons ; nor was C h a r l e s the Second fuch
an Enemy to the Mufesasto require his De-
ftruftion, tho fom are of opinion that he was
more oblig’d to that Prince’s Forgetfulnefs than
to his Clemency.

T

AS

12 6 The Life of John Milton.

A S foon as his Pardon was part the Seals,
he appear’d again, and marry’d his third Wife
Elizabeth, the Daughter of Mr. Min-
shal of Chejhire, recommended to him by
his Friend Dr. Paget. He had no Children
by this laft Wife, nor any Jiving by his fecond;
but of his three Daughters by the firft, he made
two very ferviceable to himfelf, and, in fo do¬
ing, to the reft of the World. For tlio many
fent their Sons to read for him, and feveral
grown Perfons were ambitious of obliging him
that way for their own Improvement; yet he
taught thefe young Women to read and pro¬
nounce with great exaftnefs the Englijh , Itali¬
an, Spanijh, French , Hebrew , Greec, and Latin
Languages. So that whatever Book he had
occafion to ufe, one of ’em was forc’d to read it
to him, tho neither of ’em underftood a word
of thofe Writings, except Englijh their Mo¬
ther Tongue. Phis Drudgery could not but
render them in time very uneafy; and accord¬
ingly when he underftood their Murmurs, he
difpens’d with their Duty in this cafe, and fent
them out to learn other things more becoming
their Sex and Condition.

WPIAT imploy’d a good part of his
-Thoughts for many years before, and was at
firft only defign’d to be a Tragedy, I mean his
incomparable Epic Poem, intitul’d Paradife
Loft, fe now had fufficient Ieifure to profecute
and fiuifh. It is a great wonder that this piece

fhould

7 he Life of John Milton. 127

fhould ever be brought to perfection, confider-
ing the many Interruptions that obftru&ed it.
His Youth was fpent in Study, Travelling, and
religious Controverfy ; his Manhood was im-
ploy’d in Affairs of State, or thofe of his Fami¬
ly ; and in his latter years, to fpeak nothing of
a decaying Fancy, nor of his perfonal Trou¬
bles, he was by reafon of his Blindnefs oblig’d
to write by whatfoever hand came next, ten,
or twenty, or thirty Verfes at a time; and con-
fequently muft truft the judgment of others at
leaft for the Pointing and Orthography. But
another difficulty that ffopt its paflage to the
World was very lingular: for his Vein never
happily flow’d but from the Autumnal to the
Vernal Equinox, as his Nephew Edward
Philips affirms, who fays he was told this
particular by Milton himfelf; and yet I
fancy he might be miftaken as to the time, be-
caufe our Author in his Latin Elegy on the ap¬
proach of the Spring feems to fay juft the con¬
trary, as if he could not make any Verfes to his
fatisfaftion till the Spring begun, according to
thefe lines.

Fallor ? An & nobis redeunt in car min a vires .,
Ingeniumque mtbi munere veris adejl ?

Munere veris adejl , iter unique vigefcit ab illo ,

(Quit.put et) atque diquodjam jibi pcfcit opus.

A

i 2 8 The Life of John Milton.

A more judicious Friend of his informs me, that
he could never compofe well but in the Spring
and Autumn : And let it be which way you
will, it follows that this Piece Was compos’d in
half the time he was thought to be about it.
As to the choice of his Subject, or the Particu¬
lars of his Story, I fhall fay nothing in defence
of them againft thofe People who brand ’em
with Herefy and Impiety : for to incur the
Difpleafure of certain ignorant and fupercilious
Critics, argues free Thinking, accurat Wri¬
ting, and a generous Profeflion of Truth. I’m
Pure if H e s i o d, or fuch other fabulous Au¬
thors in the rude ages of the World, had given
fo intelligible, coherent, and delightful an ac-
•ount of the Creation of the Univerfe and the
Origin of Mankind, their Syftem had paft for
Divine Infpiration; and the Unbelievers of it
would appear to be fo few, that any of ’em
might well be fhewn for a Monfter rather than
be thought worthy of Punifhment or Confuta¬
tion. As to the regularity of the Poem, I ne¬
ver knew it queftion’d by any but fuch as would
build themfelves a Reputation on the flaws arid
miftakes they difcover in other Mens Labors,
without producing any thing better or equal of
their own. But the unparallel’d Sublimity and
Force of the Expreffion, with the delicacy d'f his
Thoughts, and the copioufnefs of his Invention,
are unanimoufly own’d by all ranks of Writers;
He has incontellably exceded the fecundity of

lid-

The Life of John Miltonu t ip

Homer, whofe two Poems he could almoft
repeat without book: nor did he com much
Short of the corre&nefs of Virgil;
which is affirm’d by one whofe judgment
in this Province will be acknowleg’d by
every man that is not willing to expofe thd
defect of his own. I mean theiamous John
D r y d e n, the bell Englifb Poet alive, the
prefent Glory of our Stage, and the Mo¬
del of the fame to future Ages; for he
(having abfolutely matter’d thefe three Ori¬
ginals by framing a Tragedy out of Para-
dife Lofty making the Charms of Vi r g i l
appear in the English Tongue, and Studying
H omer for the fame purpofe) pronounces
his judgment in favor of Milton by this
incomparable and envy’d Epigram.

Three Poets in three diftant Ages born,

Greece , Italy, and England did adorn:

The firft in Loftinefs of Thought furpaft;

The next in Majefty; in both the laft.

The Force of Nature could no further go:

To make a Third, fhe join’d the other T wOi

The firft Edition of Par ad ft Loft was pub-
lifh’d in the year 1666, in ten Books j
but afterwards, amended and inlarg’d by
himfelf, it was dispos’d according to his
Direction into twelve Books, as it is read
at ptefent. I muft not forget that we had

I life

13 o T be Life of John Milton^

like to be eternally depriv’d of this Trea-
fure by the Ignorance or Malice of the
Licenfer; who, among other frivolous Ex¬
ceptions, would needs fupprefs the whole
Poem for imaginary Treafon in the follow¬
ing lines.

--As, when the Sun new rifen

Looks thro the Horizontal mifty Air
Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon
In dim Eclipfe difaftrous Twilight fheds
On half the Nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes Monarchs.

Milton, taking an occafion from Satan**
afcending out. of infernal Darknefs towards
the Light of this World then newly created,
perpetuats the Hiftory of his own Blindnefs
in tins admirable Paffage.

Hail, holy Light; Ofspring of Heaven Firfl-
born,

Or of th’ eternal coeternal Beam,

May I exprefs thee unblam’d ? Since God is
Light,

And never but in unapproached Light
Dwelt from Eternity, dwelt then in thee
Bright Effluence of bright Effence increate.

Or

The Life of John Milton. 151
Or Iiearft thou rather pure ethereal Stream,
Whofe Fountain who fhall tell ? Before the
Sun,

Before the Heavens thou wert; and at the
Voice

Of God, as with a Mantle, dift inveft
The riling World of Waters dark and deep.
Won from the void and formlefs Infinite.
Thee 1 revifit now with bolder Wing,
Efcap’d the Stygian Pool, tho long detain’d
In that obfcure Sojourn; while in my flight
(Thro utter and thro middle Darknefs born)
I fung of Chaos and eternal Night,

Taught by the heavenly Mufe to venture
down

The dark Defcent, and up to reafcend
Tho hard and rare. Thee I revifit fafe,

And feel thy fovrain vital Lamp; but thou
Revifit’fl: not thefe Eys that roll in vain
To find thy piercing Ray, and find no dawn:

So thick a Drop ferene has quench’d their
Orbs

Or dim Suffufion veil’d ! Yet not the more
Ceafe I to wander where the Mufes haunt
Clear Spring, or fhady Grove, or funny Hill*.

I 2

Smit

i} i 7 be Life of John MiTron?

Smit with the Love of facred Song; but chief.
Thee, Sion , and thy flowry Brooks beneath
That wafh thy hallow’d Feet, and warbling
flow.

Nightly I vifit. Nor fomtimes forget
Thofe other two equal’d with me in Fate
(So were I equal’d with them in Renown)
Blind Tbamyris and blind Maonides,

And Lyre fas and Phineus, Prophets old.

Then feed on Thoughts that voluntary move
Harmonious Numbers; as the wakeful Bird
Sings darkling, and, in fhadyeft Coverts hid.
Tunes her no&urnal Note. Thus with the
Year

Seafons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the fweet approach of Ev’n, or
Morn,

Or fight of vernal Bloom, or Summers Rofe,
Or Flocks, or Herds, or human Face divine:
But Cloud inftead, and everduring Dark

Surrounds me, from the chearful ways of
Men

Cutoff’; and, for the Book of Knowlege fair,
Prefented with an univerfal Blank
Of Nature’s W orks to me expung’d and raz’d.

ucu

W|in

mlTn

Deeds

hedefc

• tat
Ira
njk
Wind
felnf
lfb<

The Life of John Milton. 13$
And Wifdom at one entrance quite fhut out.
So much the rather, thou Celeftial Light,

Shine inward, and the Mind thro all her
Powers

Irradiat: there plant Eys, all Miff from*
thence

Purge and difperfe, that I may fee and tell
Of things invifible to mortal fight.

AN Epic Poem is not a bare Hiftory de¬
lightfully related in harmonious Numbers,
and artfully difpos’d; but it always con¬
tains, befides a general Reprefentation of
Pa (Rons and Affections, Virtues and Vices,
fom peculiar Allegory or Moral. Homer
therfore, according to Dionysius Ha-
ucarnassius, expreffes ftrength of
Body in his Iliad by the Wars of the Greecs
and Trojans, but particularly by the valiant
Deeds of Achilles; and in his Odyftet
he defcribes Generality of Mind by the Ad¬
ventures and Wandrings of Ulysses in
his return from Troy. Thus Torqji ato
Tasso has prefixt an Explication to his Gie-
rufalemme Liber at a: Nor was Milton
behind any body in the choice or dignity of
his Inftruftion; for to difplay the different
Effects of Liberty and Tyranny, is the chief
defign of his Paradife Loft. This in the
Conclufion of his fecond Book of Reformati-

I j l - on,

13 4 'Ll ,e Life of John Milton.

on, publifh’d in 41, he tells us was his Inten¬
tion at that time ; and he afterwards made
this Promife good. His own words, being
part of a Prayer to God, deferve ferious
Confideration. “ Then, fays he, amidft
* the Hymns and Hallelujahs of Saints,
“ fom one may perhaps be heard offring at
u high ftrains in new and lofty meafures,
“ to ling and celebrat thy divine Mercies,
“ and marvellous Judgments in this Land
“ throouc all Ages, wherby this great and
“ warlike Nation (inftru&ed and inur’d
a to the fervent and continual practice of
“ Truth and Righteoufnefs, and calling far
<£ from it the Rags of its old Vices) may
<£ prefs on hard to that high and happy E-
ci mutation to be found the foberelt, wifeft,
u and moll Chrillian People at that day,
<c when Thou, the eternal and fbortly ex-
<£ pe£ted King, lhalt open the Clouds to
judg the feveral Kingdoms of the World;
“ and, diftributing national Honors and
“ Rewards to religious and juft Common -
“ wealths , fhak put an end to all earthly
<£ Tyrannies, proclaiming thy univerfal and
<£ mild Monarchy thro Heaven and Earth.
“ Where they undoubtedly, that by their
££ Labors, Counfels, and Prayers, have bin
“ earnell for the common Good of Religion
£ ‘ and their Country, fhall receive (above
“ the inferior Orders of the Blefled) the

The Life of John Milton. 155

« regal addition of Principalities, Legions,
ic and Thrones into their glorious 'Pities
and in fupereminence of beatific Vifion,
u progreffing the datelefs and irrevoluble
u Circle of Eternity, fhall clap infeparable
« hands with Joy and Blifs in overmeafure
“ for ever. But they on the contrary, that
4< by the impairing and diminution of the
li true Faith, by the Diftrelfes and Servi-
“ tude of their Country, afpire to high
« Dignity, Rule, and Promotion here, af-
“ ter a fhameful end in this Life (which
“ God grant them) fhall be thrown down
eternally into the darkeft and deepeft
ic Gulf of Hell: where, under the defpite-
« ful Control, the Trample, and Spurn of
“ all the other Damn’d, that in the Anguifli
<c of their Torture fhall have no other eafe
than to exercife a raving and beftial Ty-
“ ranny over them as their Slaves and Ne-
u gros, they fhall remain in that plight for
u ever, the bafeft, the Iowermoft, the mofl:
u dejefted , mofl: underfoot, and down-
u trodden Valfals of Perdition. I filial 1 end
my account of this Divine Poem with a Co-
j>y of Latin Verfes made upon it by Samuel
BmotVy a Dcftor of Phyfic.

I 4

13 6 The Life of John Milton^

£>ui Legis amiffam Paradifum, grandia magni

Car min a Miltoni, quid mfi cuncla Legis ?

Res cunffas, dr cunffarum primordia rerum.,

Et fata, &fnes, continet ifte Liber.

Jntima panduntur magni penetralia mundi,

Scribitur & toto quicquid in orbe latet.

Terrxque traclufque maris, ccelumque pro-
fundum,

SulpbureumqueErebi flammivomumque (pe-
cus. 3

Quxque colunt terras, pontumque, dr tar tar a
caca, -v • , • w

Qu&que cola nt fummi lucida regna poll.

Et quodcunque ullis conclufum ejl finibus uf-
quam,

Et fine fine Chaos, & fine fine Dens:

Et fine fine magis ( fiquid magis eft fine fine)

In Chrifto erga homines conciliates amor.

H<ec qui fperaret, quis crederet effefuturum ?

Et tamen hue hadie Terra Brit anna legit .

0 quant os in belia dulces ! qua protulit arma
Qu&canit, & quant a prdia dir a tuba!
Ccelefi es acies! atque in cert amine caelum
Et qua cceleftes pugna deceret agros / ~\,

’ ‘ ' gtfOlb

The Life of John Milton. 137

Quant us in atheriis tollit fe Lucifer armis!

Atque ipjb graditur vix Michaele minor /
Quant is ac quam funeflis concur r it ur iris !
Dum ferus hie fellas protegit, ille rapit!

Dum vulfos montes, ceu tela recipraca, tor-
quent ;

Et non mortali defuper igne pluunt:

St at duhius cui fe parti concedat Olympus,

Et metuit pugna non fupereffe fua.

At fimul in caelis Meffia infgnia fulgent,

Et currus animes, armaque digna Deo,
Horrendumquerotafirident, & feva rot arum
Erumpunt torvis fulgura lumtnibus ,
fit flamma vibrant, dr vera tonitrua rauco
Admifis flammis infonuere polo:

Excidit attonitis mens omnis , & impetus om -
nis y

Et caffs dextris irrita tela cadunt.

Ad poenas fugiunty dr, ceu foret Orgus A°>
fylum,

Infrnis cert ant condere fe tenebris.

Cedite Romani feriptoresy Cedite Graii f
' Et quot recens fama, vel celebravit anus.
Hac/quicunque leget t ant urn ceciniffe put abit
MaonidemranaSy VirgiliumCulkes ,

•" w

i} 8 The Life of John Milton.

IN the year 1670 he publifh’d his Para-
dife Regain'd , confiding of four Books; but
generally efteem’d much inferior to Paradife
Loft, which he could not endure to hear,
being quite of another mind: yet this occa-
fion’d fom body to fay wittily enough that
Milton might be feen in Paradije Loft ,
but not in Paradife Regain'd. With this laft
Book he publifbt his Samfon Jgomftes, an
admirable Tragedy, not a ridiculous mix¬
ture of Gravity and Farce according to moft
of the Modern, but after the Example of
the yet unequal’d Antients, as they are juftly
cal’d, iEscHYms, Sophocles, and
Euripides.

IN the year 70 alfo came abroad his Hifto-
ry of Britain , wherof we had occalion to
fpeak befoie. He deduc’d it only to the
Norman Conqueft, and yet we have it not
as it came out of his hands ; for the Licen-
fers, thofe fworn Officers to deftroy Learn¬
ing, Liberty, and good Senfe, expung’d
feveral paflages of it wherin he expos’d the
Superftition, Pride, and Cunning of the
Popifh Monks in the Saxon Times, but
apply’d by the fagacious Licenfers to
Charles the Second’s Bifhops. This
puts me in mind of a Reply to a certain Per-
fon by Sir Robert Howard lately
deceaft, a Gentleman of great Generolity,

The Life of John Milton i gp

aPaf ron of Letters, and a hearty Friend to
the Liberty of his C ountry. Being told
that he was charg’d in a Book with whip¬
ping the Proteftant Clergy on the back of
the Heathen and Popifia Priefts, he prefently
ask’d what they had to do there ? He was a
great admirer of Milton to his dying
day; and, being his particular acquaintance,
would tell many pleafant Storie^ of him, as
that he himfeli having demanded of him
once what made him lide with the Republi¬
cans ? Milton anfwer’d, among other
Reafons, becaufe theirs was the moll: frugal
Government; for that the Trappings of a
Monarchy might fet up an ordinary Com¬
monwealth. But not to digrefs too far, our
Author bellow’d a Copy of the unlicens’d
Papers of his Hiftory on the Earl of Angle fey,
who, as well as feveral of the Nobility and
Gentry, was his conftant Vifitor. Nor was
he lefs frequented by Foreners to the laft,
than in the time of his flourifhing condition
before the Reftoration. It is an irreparable
lofs to this moll potent Nation, that M i l-
t o n did not find leifure to bring down his
Hiftory to his own times: For (as the no-
bleft Ornament of all Politenefsand Literature
Sir William Temple juftly com¬
plains) “ tho the Englifh are fo renown’d
by the Fame of their Arms and Exploits
* abroad, io applauded and envy’d for their

c ‘ wife

' %

540 The Life of John Milton." yd

“ wife and happy Inftitutions at home, fo cffeexj

6 ‘ flourifhing in Arts and Learning, and fo ;t« EI

cC adorn’d by excellent Writers in other HMt
“ Kinds, yet none of ’em has produc’d one 1$ ^
“ good or approv’d general Hiftory of Eng-
“ land. But our Hiftories (continues he) i#jf
“ have bin written by fuch mean and vul- ill0

“ gar Authors, fo tedious in their Relations, t ^
or rather Collections; fo injudicious in the si, *
* choice of what was fit to be told or to be pb
let alone; with fo little order, and in fo siliiop
b< wretched a Stile; that as it isafhameto ns®'
“ be ignorant in the Affairs of our own rf,

“ Country, fo ’tis hardly worth the time or flljreac

pains to be inform’d, fince for that end a ittfBC

a Man rnuft read over a Library, rather fin;]

H than a Book: and after all, muff be con- Asioi

f tent to forget more than he remembers, klaii
This Charge is too true, and yet it’s very WjtS
grange it fhould be fo, feeing no Country Ain
in the World has afforded a greater diver- mil
hty or a better choice of Actions, nor is fur- mi
nifht with more ample or authentic Mate- ifejei
rials for framing a juft and full body of Hi- [«»

ftory. Would Sir W1 l l i a m be pleas’d ^

to continue fo ufeful a Work, according to t |
the inimitable Specimen he has publilht for i£l y
incouraging fom other to purfue this Attemt,
England might boldly compare with Rome ,
and himfelf be reckon’d equal with Livy.- ^
But tho he gos no further than the Norman

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7 he Life of John Milton.’ 143

Coriqueft, which is the period of Mi l ton,
yet we expert a larger Account from James
T y r r e l, the worthy Grandfon of Arch-
bifhop Vfher. This learned Gentleman, to
fupply the Defeats wherof Sir W 1 l l i a m
Temple complains, has undertaken to
write a General Hiftqry of England from
the remoteft traditional Beginnings to this
time. The fir ft Volume of it is already a-
broad, which reaches like wife to W 1 l»
li am the Firft; the Second is now finifht j
and I hope he’l meet with fufficient incou-
ragement to make a fpeedy publication of
the reft. For tho his Work may not per¬
fectly reach SirW illiam’s Plan in the
niceft exa&nefs of Order, Stile, and Com-
pofition; yet it muft be confeft by all true
Judges to be the moft impartial and complete,
the laithfulleft, the moft methodical, and in
all refpeCts the belt Collection that was ever
made in England. All our Manufcript hi-
ftorical Records, and the numerous com¬
pany of our particular Hiftorians, can ferve
for little more to pofterity than to verify the
Contents of this Book: nor will any body
be at the trouble to preferve ’em for this pur-
pofe, that is not a ftranger to Mr. T y r«
rel’s Diligence and Integrity.

MILTON wrote fom Miscellaneous
Pieces much inferior to his other Works, as a
Grammar for learning the Latin l ongue; a

Logic

Cm-

Logic after the method of Petrus Ra¬
mus; a brief Hiftory of Mufcovy, and of
other lefs known Countries, lying eaftward
of it as far as Cathay, collefted from the Re¬
lations of feveral Travellers: he tranflated
out of Latin into Englifh, the Declaration
of the Poles concerning the Election of their
King John the Third, containing an Ac¬
count of the Virtues and Merits of the faid
Prince; he publifht Sir Walter Ra¬
leigh’s Prince , or his Maxims and A-
phorifms of State ; and he alfo printed his
Cabinet Council . More pieces of this rare¬
ly accomplifht, tho unfortunat Gentleman,
were made public by other perfons; and I
daily expeft fom more from JamesTyr-
rel, who has the Manufcript Copies in his
hands, and, I da re affirm, will not envy fuch
a bleffing to the Nation.

OUR Author’s Juvenil and Occafional Po¬
ems, both in Engltjb and Latin , were print¬
ed in one fmall Volume. I took notice of the
beft of ’em in many places of this Difcourfe;
but the Monody wherin he bewails his
Learned Friend Mr. King drown’d in the
Irrjh Seas, is one of the fineft he ever wrote.

THE Danijh Refident prevail’d with
Milton to get the Letters of State (for¬
merly mention’d) tranfcrib’d, and which
were publifht after his death: as were alfo
his familiar Letters in 74, wherin, to ufe

the

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The Life of John Milton.’ 14^

the words of Morhof, there are many
Chara&ers of Antient and Modern, of Do-
meftic and Foren Authors, very fit to be
read and underftood. The laft thing he
wrote, and that was publifbt a little before
his Death, is his Treatife of true Religion ,
Herefy, Schifm , Toleration , and the be ft means
that may be us'd to prevent the growth of Popery.
He obferv’d (as all difcerning Men muft
have don at that time) the prodigious in-
creafe of the Romijh Superftition, occafion’d
partly by the Perfecution againfl: Dilfenting
Proteftants , but more by the incouragement
it receiv’d from the Royal Brothers Charles
and the Duke of Tork. From the Prin¬
ciples which our Author lays in his Book
(and which, I think, are thofe of the firft
Reformers) he infers that no true Proteftant
can perfecute any perfonsfor fpeculative Points
of Confcience, much Iefs not tolerat his fel¬
low Proteftant, tho in fom things dilfenting
from his own Judgment. After Ihewing that
falfe Religion confifts in the corrupt Tradi¬
tions of Men, and their arbitrary Additions
to the divine Rule or Standard of all Truth,
he was at no great labor to prove the Mem¬
bers of the Roman Church to be the greateft
Heretics in the World. As for Schifm, or
the divifion of Congregations from their dif¬
ference in Opinions, he fhews it may hap¬
pen in the true Church as well as in the falfe;

but

144 The Life of John Milton."

but that in the firft it need not break Com-
munion or brotherly Love, no more than a-
mong the Pharifes and Sadduce who ami¬

cably met at their common Worship in Je-
rufalem. “ It is human frailty to err, fays
“ he, and no Man is infallible here on Earth.
te But fo long as the Lutherans , Calvinifts,
u Anabaptijls , Socinians , and Arminians ,
“ profefs to fet the Word of God only be-
“ fore them as the Rule of their Faith and
u Obedience; and ufe all diligence and fin-
u cerity of heart by reading, by learning^
“ by ftudy, by prayer for illumination of
“ the Holy Spirit, to underftand this Rule
u and obey it, they have don whatever
u Man can do. God will alfuredly pardon
<£ them, as he did the Friends of Job, good
ic and pious Men, tho much miftaken (as
u there it appears) in fom points of Doc-
“ trin. But fom will fay, with ChriJHans
“ it is otherwife, whom God has promis’d
<c by his Spirit to teach all things. True,
“ all things abfolutely neceflary toSalvati-
w on: But the hotteft Difputes among Pro-
tefiants , calmly and charitably examin’d*
a will be found lcfs than fuch. The Luther
(c ran holds Confubftantiation ; an er-
ic ror indeed, but not mortah The
“ Calviniji is tax’d with Predeftinatiort, and
“ to make God the Author of Sin; not
i( with any dilhonorable thoughts of God,

61 but*

■'The Life of John Milton? 14^

“ but, it may be, overzealoully aiferting his
u abfolute Power, not without plea from
“ Scripture. The Anabaptift is accus!d of
“ denying Infants their right to Baptifm;
“ they fay again, that they deny nothing
<c but what the Scripture denys them. The
“ Arian and Sochian are charg’d to difpute
“ againft the Trinity ; yet they affirm to
“ believe the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft,

“ according to Scripture and the Apoftolic
“ Creed. As for the terms of Trinity,
u Trinunity, CoelTentiality, Triperfonality,
u and the like, they rejeft them as Schola.ftic
“ Notions, not to be found in Scripture,

“ which, by a general Protejlant Maxim,

“ is plain, and perfpicuous abundantly to
“ explain its own meaning in the propereft
“ words belonging to fo high a matter, and '
“ fo neceflary to be known; a myftery in-
<c deed in their Sophiftic Subtiities, but in
“ Scripture a plain Do&rin. The Armhian
“ laftly is condemn’d for -fetting up Free
“ Will againft Free Grace; but that impu-
ic tation he difclaims in all his Writings, and
“ grounds himfelf largely upon Scripture
ic only. It cannot be deny’d that the Au^

“ thors or late Revivers of all thefe Sefts or
<c Opinions were learned, worthy, zealous,

“ and religious Men, as appears by their
<( Lives written, and the Fame of their ma-
“ ny eminent and learned Followers, per-

K « fed

>

3 46 T/;£ Lijeof John Milton.

“ fed and powerful in the Scriptures, holy
“ and unblamable in their A&ions: And it
cannot be imagin’d that God would defert
fuch painful and zealous Laborers in his
Church, and ofttimes great fufferers for
their Confcience, to damnable Errors and
“ a reprobat Senfe, who had fo often im-
plor’d the affiftance of his Spirit; but ra-
“ ther, having made no Man infallible, that
“ he has pardon’d their Errors, and accepts
“ their pious Endeavors, fincerely fearching
ic all things according to the Rule of Scrip-
iC ture, with fuch guidance and dire&ion as
they can obtain of God by Prayer. What
Proteflant then, who himfelf maintains
the fame Principles, and dilavows all
implicit Faith, would perfecute, and not
rather charitably tolerat fuch men as thefe,
unlefs he means to abjure the Principles of
his own Religion? If it be ask’d how far
“ they fhould be tolerated ? I anfwer, dout-
“ lefs equally, as being all Protefims ; that
<e is, on all occafions to be permitted to give
“ an account of their Faith, either by argu-
“ ing, preaching in their feveral Affemblies,
u by public writing, and the freedom of
“ printing. Nothing can be imagin’d more
reafonable, honeft, or pious, than this paf-
fage ; and I don’t remember ever to have
met with any perfon who fpoke with fuch
difintereftednefs and impartiality of our va¬
rious

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The Life of John Milton, 147
Hous Sefts in Religion except Thomas
Firmin, whole Charity was as much ex-*
tended to men of different Opinions, as it
was-to the Poor of all forts in good Works ;
but in this Iaft refpea he was never yet e-
qual’d, nor likely to be eafily exceded by any
hereafter: tho his excellent Example is ad¬
mir’d by feveral, and deferves to be imitated
by all. In the laft place, Milton fbews
that Popery (not as it is a Religion, but as a
tyrannical Faaion opprefling all others) is
intolerable, and that the beft method of keep¬
ing it from ever increafing in this Nation, is
by the toleration of all kinds of Proteftants,
or any others whofe Principles do not necef-
farily lead ’em ,to Sedition or Vice. But this
Subject is fince perfeftly exhaufted, and
tieated with greater clearnels and brevity
than ever before in a Letter concerning To¬
leration by Joh n Lock, who in his Book
of Human Vnderfianding mu ft be confefc to
be the greateft Philofopher after Cicefo
in the Umverfe; for he’s throly acquainted
with human Nature, well vers’d in the ufe-
ful Affairs of the World, agreatMafter of
Eloquence (Qualities in which the Reman
Conful excel’d) and like him alfo a hearty
bver of his Country, as appears by his Trea-
tifes of Government and Education , not in¬
terior in their kind to the divineft Pieces of
T u l l y. Milton’s Thefaurtts Lingua
R * Latina^

J

548 T he Life of John Milton.

Latin*, defign’d as a Supplement to S t e-
ph a nus, was never publifht, and has bin
of great ufe to Dr. Littleton in com¬
piling his Dictionary. He wrote likewife a
Syftem of Divinity , but whether intended
for public view, or collected merely for his
own ufe, I cannot determin. It was in the
hands of his Friend CyriacSkinner;
and where at prefent is uncertain.

THIS is a full and true account of his ge-
nuin Works and Sentiments, not putting
the Directions or Affiftance which he fre¬
quently gave ether Wl iters, to his account.
Towards the latter part of his time he con¬
tracted his Library, both becaufe the Heirs
he left could not toake a right ufe of it, and
that he thought he might fell it more to
their advantage than they could be able to
do themfelves. His Enemies reported that
Poverty conftrain’d him thus to part with
his Books: and were this true, it would be
indeed a great difgrace, not to him (for Per-
fons of the higheft Merits have bin often re¬
duc’d to that condition) but to any Country
that fhould have no more regard to Probity
or Learning: this Story however is fo falfe,
that he dy’d worth fifteen hundred Pounds,
befides all his Goods. The Houfe wherin
he was born, and which Strangers us’d to
vifit before the Fire, was part of his Eflate
as long as it flood. He put two thoufand

Pounds

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The Life of John Milton. 149

Pounds into the Excife, which he loft when
that Bank fail’d ; not to mention another
great Sum which was gon for want of ma¬
nagement and good advice. He was never
very healthy, nor too fickly ; and the Di-
ftemper that troubled him moft of any o-
ther was the Gout, of which he dy’d with¬
out much pain in the year from the birth of
Christ 1674, and in the fix and fixtieth
of his Age.. All his learned and great
Friends in London , not without a friendly
concourfe of the Vulgar, accompany’d his
Body to the Church of S. G'iles near
Cripplegate , where he lies buried in the Chan¬
cel ; and where the Piety of his Admirers
will fhortly ere£t a Monument becoming his
worth, and the incouragement of Letters in
King William’s Reign.

THUS liv’d and dy’d John Mil-
ton, aPerfonof the belt Accomplifhments,
the happieft Genius, and the vafteft Learn¬
ing which this Nation, fo renown’d for pro¬
ducing excellent Writers, could ever yet
fhew : efteem’d indeed at home, but much
more honor’d abroad, where almoft in his
Childhood he made a confiderable figure,
and continues to be ftill reputed one of the
brightell Luminaries of the Sciences. He
was middlefiz’d and well proportion’d, his
Deportment erect and manly, his Hair of a
light brown, his Features exactly regular,

K ? his

150 The Life of John Milton.

his Complexion wonderfully fair when 4
Youth, and ruddy to the very lad. He was
adable in Converfation, of an equal and
chearful Temper, and highly delighted with
all forts of Mufic, in which he was himfelf
not meanly skil’d. He was extraordinary
temperat in his Diet, which was any thing
molt in leafon or the eafied procur’d, and
was no Friend to fharp or drong Liquors.
His Recreations, before his Sight was gon
confided much in feats of Aftivity,'parti!
cularly m the exercifeof his Arms, which he
could handle with dexterity: but when
Blindnefs and Age confin’d him, he play’d
much upon an Organ he kept in theHoufe:
and had a Pully to fwing and keep him in
motion. but the love of Books exceded all
hrs other Paflions. In Summer he would be
nirring at four in the Morning, and in Win¬
ter at five ; but at Night he us’d to go to bed
by nine, partly attributing thelofs of his Eys
to Ins late watching when he was a Student
and looking on this cuftom as very perni¬
cious to Health at any time: but when he
was not difpos’d to rife at his ufual hours, he
always had one to read to him by his bedfide.
As he look’d upon true and abfolute Free-
dom to be the greateft Happinefs of this
Lite, whether to Societies or fingle Perfons;
10 lie thought Conftraint of any fort to be
the utmofl: Mifery ; for which Reafon he

us’d

The Life of John Milton.

us’d to tell thofe about him the intire Satif-
faCtion of his Mind, that he had conlfantly
imploy’d his Strength and Faculties in the
defence of Liberty, and in a direct oppofi-
tion to Slavery. He ever expreft the pro>
foundeft Reverence to the Deity as well in
Deeds as Words; and would fay to his
Friends, that the divine Properties of Good-
nefs, Juftice, and Mercy, were the adequat
Rule of human A&ions, nor lefs the Ob-
je£t of Imitation for privat Advantages, than
of Admiration or RefpeCt for their own Ex¬
cellence and Perfection. In his early days
he was a Favorer of thofe Proteftants then
opprobrioufly cal’d by the name of Puritans :
In his middle years he was beft pleas’d with
the independents and Anabaptifis, as allowing
of more Liberty than others, and coming
neareft in his opinion to the primitive prac¬
tice : but in the latter part of his Life, he
was not a profeft Member of any particular
SeCt among Chriftians, he frequented none
of their Affemblies , nor made ufe of
their peculiar Rites in his Family. Whe¬
ther this proceded from a diflike of their un¬
charitable and endlefs Difputes, and that
Love of Dominion, or Inclination to Per-
fecution, which, he faid, was a piece of Po¬
pery infeparable from all Churches; or
whether he thought one might be a good
Man, without fubfcribing to any Party;

K 4 and

151 Tl:e Life of John Milton.

and that they had all in fom things corrupted
the Inflations of Jesus Christ, I will
by no means adventure to determin: for
Conjectures on fitch occahons are very uncer¬
tain, and I never met with any of his Ac¬
quaintance who could be pofitive in affignin°-
the true Reafons of his ConduCh

I SHALL now conclude this Difcourle
with a Character given of him by a Man of
unparallel’d Diligence and Induftry, who has
difobiig’d all fides merely for telling the
Truth either intirely, or without difguife ;
and who, fince molt Men have the frailty of
ingaging in FaCtions, cannot be fufpeCted of
Partiality in favor of Milton. He was
a Perfon, fays Anthony Wood in the
firft Volume of his Athene Qxonienfes, of
wonderful Parts, of a very fharp, biting,
and fatyrical Wit; he was a good Philofo-
pher and Hiftorian ; an excellent Poet/La-
tinilt, Grecian, and Hebrician; a good Ma¬
thematician and Mufician; and fo rarely en¬
dow’d by Nature, that had he bin but ho-
neftly principled, he might have bin highly
ufeful to that Party, againft which he all a-
long appear’d with much Malice and Bit-
ternefs, '

AND

The Life of John Milton. 15 3

AND now, Sir , I end with you,
with whom I begun, not doubting
but this fmall Prefent, both from the
dignity of the Subjed: and your Favor
to the Writer, will be kindly accepted.
It may indeed be .the more plain and
unpolilli d, but not the lefs uleful or
fincere for coming out of a Country
Retirement. The moft knowing
Perfons acknowlege that Divine Pni-
lofophy her felf was begot in the
Woods, where agreably palling her
Infancy, and growing up in the neigh¬
boring Fields, flie became gentle in
time, and fo ventur’d to com into
Towns and Cities; but being quick¬
ly weary’d there with the Tumult of
Bufinels or Faction, and longing for
her former Tranquillity, flie ftraight
retir’d into Gardens or Groves, to her
Fields and Woods again. 'Tis pro¬
bable that you (as well as I or any o-
ther) may difapprove of M1 l t 0 §

Sentiments in feveral cafes, but, f m

fure.

I

154 The Life of John Milton. piBU

fure, you are far from being difpleas’d ;

to find em particulariz d in the Hiffo- put youi

ry of his Life ; for we fhould have Jify
no true Account of things, if Authors
related nothing but what they lik’d «this
themfelves '• one Party would never ^
fuffer the Lives of Tar^uin, or
P H A LA R I S, or S Y L L A, OrCl-
s a r, to appear ; while another
would be as ready tofupprefs thofeof
Cicero, of Cato, of Tra-
Jan, or B r u t u s. But a Hiftori-
an ought to conceal or difguife no¬
thing, and the Reader is to be left
Judgof the Virtues he fhould imitat,
or the Vices he ought to detefl: and a- -—

void, without ever loving his Book
the lefs: for fas the Lord Bacon
truly (aid) a forbidden Writing is thought
to be a certain (park of Truth that flies up
in the faces of them who feek to tread it
out . But your extraordinary Judg¬

ment and Candor, join’d to the belt
Learning, and an exad: Knowlege of
Men and Affairs, render my further

in-

..— ... LLw. L '*

I’d

Life of John Milton. 155
inculcating of thefe Maxims very
needlefs; and therfore 1 fhall only
put you in mind, S/r, that my defire
of gratifying your Curiofity conquer'd
my Averfion to write any thing du¬
ring this pleafanteft Sealon of the
Year.

Sept. 3. 1698.

I. T.

FINIS.

\^6 The Life of John Milton,

\

A1 Signor Gio. Miltoni No¬
bile Inglefe.

/

ODE.

\

E Rgimi alP Etra o Clio

Perche di jlelle intreeriero corona
Non piu del Biondo Dio
La Fronde eterna in Pindo, e in Elicona y
Dienji a merto maggior , maggiori ifregi y
A’ celejle virtu celejli pregi.

/

Non puo del tempo edace
Rimaner preda, eterno alto valore
Non puo P oblio rap ace
Furar dalle memorie eccelfo onore ,

Su P arco di mia cetra un dardo forte
Virtu n? addatti, e feriro la morte.

7 he Life of John Milton.

Del Ocean profondo

Cinta dagli ampi gorghi Anglia refiede

Separata dal mondo ,

Pero che il fuo valor Vumano eccede:
Queftafeconda fa produrre Eroi,

Ch° hanno a ragion delfovruman tra not.

Alla virtu sbandita

Danno ne i petti lor f do ricetto y

Quetta gli e fol gradita,

Per che in lei fan trovar gioia, e diletto y
Ridittotu, Giovanni ,, e mojlra in tanto
Con tua vera virtu , vero il mio Canto.

Lungi dal Patrio lido

Spinfe Zjufi /’ indujlre ardente brama ;

Ch* udio d* Helena ilgr'tdo

Con aurea tromba rimbombar la fama t

E per poterla effigiareal paro

Dalle piu belle Idee trajfe ilpiu raro.

1! It

Cojt P Ape Ingegnofa
Trae con indujlria il fuo liquor pregiato
Dal giglio e datta rofa f
E quanti vaghi port or nano il prato j

158 The Life of John Miltoch

Formano un dolce fuon diverfe Chorde t
Fan varie voci melodia Concorde.

Di bella gloria amante

Milton dal del natio per varie parti

Le peregrini piante

Viilgejli a ricercar fcienze, ed arti ;

Del Gallo regnator vedefii i Regni,

K delP Italia ancor gP Kroi piu degnt.

Fabro quaji divino

Sol virtu rintracciando il tuo penjiero

Vide in ogni conf no

Chi di nobil valor calc a il fentiero;

U ottimo dal miglior dopo fcegliea
Per fabbricar d y ogni virtu /’ Idea.

Quanti nacquero in Flora

0 in lei del parlar Tofco apprefer /’ arte y

La cui memoria onora

Il mondo fatta eterna in dotte carte,

Volefli ricercar per tuo teforo y

E parlafii con lor nelP opre loro.

Tfirtife of JoKn Milton, i jp

Nell 1 altera Babelle

Per te il far Ur confufe Glove in vano t

Che per varie favelle

Di fe fiejfia trofeo cadde fu 1 1 piano:

OP Ode oltr 1 all 1 Anglia ilfiuo piu degno Idioma
Spagna , prancia , Tofcana , e Grecia e Roma.

I piu profondi arcani
OP occult a la natura e in cielo e in terra
OP a Ingegni fovrutnani
Troppo avara tal 1 hor gli chiude , e ferra,
Chiaramente conofici , e giungi aljine
Della moral virtude al gran confine.

Non batta il Tempo l 1 ale,

Fermifi immotto, e in unfermin figl 1 ami ,

Che di virtu immortale
Scorron di troppo ingiuriofi a i danni ;

Che s 1 opre dtgne di Poema e fioria
Fur on gia, l 1 hai prefenti alia memoria.

Dammi tua dolce Cetra
Se vuoi cPio die a del tuo dolce canto t
Ch 1 inalzandoti all 1 Etra
Di farti huomo celefie ottiene ilvanto,

*

II

1 60 The Life of John Milton.

11 Tamigi il dir a. che gP e concejfo
Per te fuo cigno pareggiar Permejfo.

Io che in riva del Arno

Tento fpiegar tuo merto alto y e preclaro

So che fatico indarno,

E ad ammirar y non a lodarlo imparo ;
Freno dunque la lingua y eafcolto il core
Che ti prende a lodar con lo Jlupore.

J

at

of

Del fig. Antonio Francini gentilhuomo

Fiorentino.

0

An Exa& Catalogue of
all MILTON 's Works
in their true Order, as they
are mention’d in the Hiftorv
of his Life.

*• /^\ F ^formation in England, and, the •
^ J Caufes that hitherto have h in dev*d
it. In two Books: Written to a
Friend. Page

2 * pf Prelatical Epifcopacy , and whether it can •
be deduc d from the Apofolical times, p. ^o.

S’ The Reajon of Church-Government urg'd •
againjl Prelacy. In two Books. p. ^1.

4. Animadverfions upon the Remonft rants De- •
fence againjl Sme&ymnuus. p . oa

1 6i The Life of John Milton.

7. Tetrachordon; or Expofitions upon the
four chief places of Scripture which treat of
Marriage , or Nullities in Marriage, p. 58.

8 .

The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning
Divorce. n. < Q .

9. Colafterion ; a Reply to a namelefs Anfwer

againjl the Doffrwe and Difcipline of Di¬
vorce. p. 60.

10. Of Education, to Mr. Samuel Hartlib.

p. 62.

11. Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of

unlicensed Printing , to the Parliament of
England. p. 62.

12. The Tenure of Kjngs and Magifirats ,
proving that it is lawful to call a Tyrant to
account, and to depofe or put him to death.

P* 7 ?*

i}. Eikonodaftes, in anfwer to a Book inti¬
tul’d Eikon Bafilike. p. 81.

14. Obfervations on OrmondV Articles of
Peace with the Irifh, his Letter to Colonel
Jones, and on the Reprefentation of the
Presbytery of BelfafE p. 9

15. Defen-

The Life of John Milton. 16}

15. Defenfio pro Populo Anglicano, or bis
Defence of the People of England againfi
SalmafiusV Defence of the Kjng. p. 9 5 *

16. Joannis Philippi Refponfio ad Apologi-

am Anonymi cujufdam. p. 102,

17. Defenfio fecunda pro Populo Anglica¬
no, &c. p. 107.

18. Defenfio pro fe adverfus Alexandrum

Morum. p.m.

19. jTreatife of Civil Power in Ecclefiajlieal *

Caufes. P.iij.

20. Confiderations touching the likeliefl means
to remove Hirelings out of the Church, p. 113 .

21. A Letter to a Friend concerning the Rup¬
tures of the Commonwealth. p. 117.

22. The brief Delineation of a Common - •

wealth. p. 118,

25. Brief Notes on Dr. Griffith’* Sermon, in- •*
tituled. The Fear of God and the King;

p. 118.

L 2

24. The

164 T he Life of John Milton

24. The ready and eajy way to eftablijb a Free

Commonwealth , and the Excellence thereof
compar’d with the Dangers and Inconveni¬
ences of readmitting Kjngfbip in this Na¬
tion. p. 118.

25. Paradife Lojl. p.126.

26 . Paradife regain’d> and Sampfon Ago-

niftes. p.138.

27. Occafional and fuvenil Poems , Englijh

and Latin. p. 142.

28. The Hifiory of Britain to the Norman

Conquefl. p. 138.

29. Accedence commenc’d Grammar. p.141.

30. A brief Hiftory of Mufcovy. p. 142.

31. A Declaration of the Election of John III.

Kjng of Poland. p. 142.

32. Artis Logic* plenior Inftitutio ad Petri

Rami methodum concinnata. p. 142.

33. A Treatife of true Religion , Herejy ,

Schifm y Toleration , and the bejl means to
Prevent the growth of Popery. p. 14 3.

34. Lit-

The Life of John Milton.

54. Litterse Senatus Anglicani, &c. or Let¬
ters of State. p.142.

35. Epiftolarum familiarium liber unus;
acceflerunt Prolufiones quaedam Orato¬
rio. p. 142.

advertisement :

LL thefe Books, except the Poetical Part,
are now publifli’d together in three Vo¬
lumes in Folio, with this Life prefix’d j the two
firft containing the Engliih, and the third the
Latin Pieces.

W^TAvj

p] ' Cr2 ~~